Drowning
by 3rdGenHowardWriter
Summary: How many enemies must I kill to protect my friends? And how many of those friends need to die before I do?... Lastly, how the hell am I supposed to kill the bastard titans without the damn gods?
1. Not The Story Yet

This is a story that will be worth your while. It's a story where heroes aren't saints, where killing equals surviving, and where even the good people die. Actually cancel that, in this story there's nothing as simple as good and evil; everyone who wants to make a difference, is both.

The world I this story is screwed up, just like the people in it. Rick Riordan's characters still exist; Annabeth, Percy, Jason, so on. But they gods are not living it up like they used to. I am sure Percy will explain what went down is the following chapter but keep in mind things are definitely not the same. There is no diplomacy and verbal negotiation that can solve the problem at hand, mortals are involved, and in a world as dangerous as the one in my story criminal have the best chance at changing something.

When people are overwhelmed with fear they tend to simply react. So don't blame me or the characters for what they do. This is my way of providing entertainment so if there is something lacking or exceptionally good feel free to review. Aside from 'I don't mind flares' there is nothing left for me say so enjoy.


	2. My Very Unpleasant Life

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson or the Olympians.**

(Do I really have to do this every chapter?)

**Percy's POV**

I am not really sure what to say right now, but for starters my life is hard. I don't have much fun, no friends, not much family left, and it's getting harder and harder not to give up on life. For someone like me death doesn't seem like such a terrible thing if it means no worries and no responsibility. It's better than remembering certain events of my past, and way better than sitting up at night knowing that someday your lucks going to run out. Dying would actually be better than a lot of thing in my life; like the work, the loneliness the fear, and so on, but giving up is still not an option. That would mean leaving my mom alone in this world and destroying whatever sense of hope she still had left, the hope that she sees in me. No matter what word I use to describe my love for her; whether it's unbelievable, obscene or insane, there is no word in any of the languages I know that could describe the sheer amount of love. Her name is Sally Jackson and she's basically what keeps me from freezing over in this cold world where everything withers and dies. She raised me by herself for as long as I can remember, can do everything, but more importantly is able to be happy. She's my cook, best friend, teacher, therapist and occasional doctor. My name is Perseus Jackson, though I prefer to be called Percy, and I am 15. I am pretty tall, have dark black hair and have sea green eyes. Though none of that is important my body and memories are the only things that I truly have in this world. Things have changed over the years, the New York I live in is different form the one in history books; as a mater-a-fact the world itself is different; its darker than before.

I have lived in New York my entire life and have never left, yet over 15 years of observation I still can't say anything good about it. The modern city of New York place is dark cold and literally in ruins. It's now been 3 months since I have seen another human in the city, not that they are good company just that their disturbing presence enlightens you to the fact that there are other people out in the world. When I referred to other people as disturbing, it's because in world as dark and fear-driven as this one the people that I have met so far are normally crazy and animal-like; scavenging for food and ruthlessly attacking monsters and humans alike (though they usually die of pretty quickly). My friend Grover told me the world wasn't always like this. He told me that the city of New York used to be magnificent; blinding night lights, populated with millions of sane people that were free, free to do basically whatever they wanted.

My friend Grover was quite the story teller, he may have looked around 30-35 but according to him he was actually 100 or so. All the stories he told me about the past seemed too good to be true, or at least super exaggerated because a world where you couldn't see monsters because of a so called "mist" and a place where people are free, doesn't even make a good joke. I've read about the word "freedom" in the official English Webster dictionary but it doesn't make sense to keep it. I also read that languages are constantly growing and that some words are added to the language every year. So I began wondering if words could be removed, because words like "freedom" do not exist in this world, and should be removed because I've never _ever _seen it and all the people who have, like Grover, are all long gone. I used to have crazy dreams about freedom when I was younger but to survive in the world today one needs to adapt to reality and let go of childish fantasies. Even though Grover gave me false hopes he was a great friend and his death served only to crack to my already broken heart and hopes.

What ties Grover's stories to the present state of the world, are the crazy and momentous wars that raged the world ever since some fifty years ago. In the old days there were supposedly gods walking amongst humans like myself, here in New York and everywhere else, and they ruled the world secretly for thousands of years following the flames of the most advanced civilizations across the world. The wars started in the European and Asian continent and over time everything fell, collapsing in the ruins created by the power hungry titans. Well a long story short, Kronos rose to power with the help of Luke Castellan and took control of the world by taking on the forces of the gods in the illustrious Americas in the final stage of his campaign. The Americas were the final battleground, the last stand made by the gods, like the 300 Spartans destined to fail being outnumbered by the titans and betrayed by Luke Castellan. Luke Castellan was the son of the Greek god Hermes, and to win the war he stole the symbol of power of Hades and Zeus, the Helm of Darkness and the Master Bolt respectively, as a part of Kronos' plan. A three way war began between the elder gods and in the confusion Luke brought back Kronos. The god's weekend each other in wars across Europe and Asia, then half way through Kronos rose with his titan brethren and then brutally seized control. I guess that's one of the moments where the famous saying from Plato "When the gods seek to destroy mankind, they first make man angry" could be applied, though it is extremely ironic that the gods fell for their own trick. Now the gods suffer eternally in different prison all over the place. Ares now holds up the sky, Zeus is chained down in a prison of lava while all the other gods are going through their own hell. The last stand in the Americas completely destroyed New York City, so instead of rebuilding it the Titans use it as a massive monument representing their power and the gods defeat in order to impose order and fear.

The trees have spread uncontrollably, now they grow in the middle of the streets, and through building walls. Half destroyed buildings litter this colossal metropolis. Monsters live everywhere, nights are never safe and there is no longer any law. The monument New York became was never supposed to be inhabited but as my mom claims to be an outlaw we live here amongst monsters hiding in the shadows, picking fights with things deemed as "threats", and scavenging for canned food.

Me and my mom temporarily live in a canning factory on the outskirts of the city, bordering a vast dark and cold forest. We used to move around from safe house to safe house but once we found out this place with all its food we decided to stay. We've been here about six months, which is already about twice the amount I had spent anywhere else in my life, though the food in here could probably supply the two of us for another 6 or 7 months. We re-arranged almost every part of the factory, so that now we have a kitchen, closets, bedrooms and other stuff. Aside from those rooms there is the machinery room which is our over sized, dark, and scary pantry, which embraces over a thousand cans of crappy food.

Between me and my mom the favorite room is our library, no contest. Even though the entire factory has books lying around, the library is loaded with the coolest books you can imagine. Like a class room, it's where my mom teaches me stuff and believe me she teaches me a lot. She has taught me how to read and write in French, Latin, Portuguese, English and Greek. Ever since I can remember she's had a large collection of books, and reading them is probably the second most important factor that has kept me sane all these years, that and my routine. There were books on literally any subjects: from math and physics to stuff like _martial arts for dummies_. Me and my mom spend hours reading, rereading, and re-rereading books everyday, we even establish a book hunting day; where we walked around the creepy city searching for books, and even though everything we found was worn out, in terrible condition, and often moldy we didn't mind since what mattered was what was written. Out of all her books she has two favorite topics. My mom is an ancient mythology geek. She has about fifty huge books about Greek and Roman mythology and can tell you stories of famous heroes by heart. I dig the subject too, though not as much, I mean it's cool and all but it's because of them we live this way. To my mom my education is really important, but she doesn't really teach me normal things. She teaches me survival techniques, good cooking recipes, about machines and weapons, and only every once in a while do we do math and physics. I read on my own a lot, but my life still isn't relaxed.

One thing that's important to know about survival is that you need water. Every morning I wake up and the first thing I do is get water. Once you find water then you can do whatever else you need to do, but without water you won't get far. My daily chores include finding water, getting gas, checking on our traps, hunting down non-rabid animal, scouting out for soldiers of the royal army and scaring off an occasional monster. I used to split the work with Grover and my sister but they are officially rotting corpses about 5 feet underground. I am not trying to sound bitter or anything, it's just that the longer I live the more I feel like a lone survivor, and I hate that. Grover Paul and my sister were truly the best family I could have had, though Grover wasn't genetically related to me. When I remember the two of them I get seriously miserable, but in reality they are only two more of the hundreds of other people that I have seen die. My mom offers to help me with my chores all the time, but she severely injured her legs when the royal army came looking for her a few before we came to this factory, consequently she is no longer the most mobile of people and unfortunately agility is what defines your lifespan out in the unprotected areas of the city.

Let me explain the tactical position the factory is in; I'd say the good to bad ratio is, mildly okay. It's not the safest place but it does allow a lot more free time considering it's loaded with canned food, checking off one of my fundamental chores, and is far a way from the city which is where most monsters like to hang out. Aside from those two things there isn't much else good about the place. The bad things about the factory are that there are a lot of windows, it can be easily surrounded, it is impossible for two people to defend, there is absolutely no escape rout, is really creepy at night and it is a dark gloomy gray.

The factory is an old run down two story building. It was probably once white but is now a mixture of gray and green. The front entrance opens up to a forest and the back entrance to the ocean. It looks like a really scary place but makes a good, sorry not good I mean satisfactory, home. There are a number of large rooms inside and ever since me and my mom moved in they have each been given a new purpose; like dining room, kitchen, pantry, closet, war room, sparing room, the bedless bedroom, empty room 1-7, sheet room, and of course the toiletless bathroom.

You now know the past, so let's talk about the future. Tomorrow it happens to be my mom's birthday and I'm planning to go to the nearest bookstore or library to get her a birthday present. She loves books and I am pretty sure there some kind of book place 10 miles down south. It will take me a lot longer than normal to get there since I have to be stealthy and watch my back so I'm leaving early tomorrow morning.

So what did you think about the chapter?

I will be explaining more about the world's situation later, but it may still be too vague.

Put anything down in the reviews


	3. Checking For A Harpies Cavities

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

**Percy's POV**

"Whyyyyy?" part of me asked, but I knew why. It was my mom's birthday and it was the first actual adventure since last year. I sat up eagerly and looked at my alarm clock. It was 3:00 a.m. I had to leave now if I didn't want my mom to notice I was gone. I got out of my improvised room and walked into a narrow hallway. The walls were the usual, paint slowly chipping off, faded colors and the smell of rotten moldy wood. I walked inside the maintenance room which was one of our closets. There I found a flash light, some batteries, a rope, some cloth and a first aid kit. I shoved it all in my backpack and walked through the machinery room into the kitchen. I got out a large, insanely sharp cooking knife, just in case, a water bottle and a can of peaches. The kitchen is also our main entrance so I unlocked our door took a deep breath and walked into the open. You might be thinking I am an idiot for walking into a monster-infested forest night, in the dark and alone. First of all this isn't something I do often. Second of all I have a well developed theory; "If your enemy is in sight/range than so are you". Then you say: And how does that prove your point? Well, if I can't see any thing than nor can anyone else. I didn't feel less scared but I set out with my senses at 110%.

I walked at a slow but constant pace erasing my tacks as I went. It took about half an hour to get a mile away until I finally gave up and started walking normally. The library was about 10 miles from where I was, so it would probably take me just over 2 hour to get there. I walked in absolute silence for a while, occasionally crouching and sprinting to different places whenever I felt company. Of course not because I was scared it was just the safe thing to do.  
>As I walking through the city, I started to think about my life, and what I really wanted. Surely a few books wouldn't be enough to cheer my mom out of our situation. I thought about how we barely survived, always alert, scared and weak. The monsters that attacked our house were never organized or constant. They, whoever that is, probably the greater force were focused on something else, proving that I was insignificant. I was getting frustrated and reckless, making more noise as I walked through the forest. I needed to change this world. I had been reading about a man called Martin Luther King Jr. who said something interesting.<br>He said "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent." That was going to be an impossible stunt to pull. He got the privilege to say "we", while I was alone, just "me".

The bush on my right shook violently, and it brought me right out of my thoughts.  
>"Dang" I muttered. I backed up, crouched and raised my arms ready to roll out of the way.<br>"Screech!¡!" My hand raced onto my ears and the beast flew at me. While I was a little bit off balance I managed to roll out of the way. It did a 180 degree spin and came at me with amazing speed. This time I didn't have enough time to dodge; it closed in and planted its teeth an inch into my right arm. With my left arm I hit it, still not completely sure what it was, full force on the head and shook its teeth out of my arm. It backed away on the ground while I checked my wounded arm, which was seriously hurting.

There was a small oval shaped mouth bite, I panicked and looked at my attacker for the first time. It had a body of a bird slightly bigger than a chicken's, long silky wings, and a woman's head. A harpy, I remembered learning with my mom, but something wasn't right harpies were famous for traveling in packs. I looked at my enemy again. It looked dazed, but its eyes were completely black. The eyes mirrored the lust that the harpy must have been feeling. Then I understood the situation. There were no reinforcements; this monster was barley rational and not even sane: wild. I charged the stupid monster but she rose 50 feet in the air quicker than I thought possible. As she hovered, she looked me in the eyes before she dove. Her mouth was wide open and before she impaled herself into me I reached out. We hit the dirt with my hands in her mouth and her talons scratching at my chest. We rolled on the floor until I was finally able to trap her in my legs. Blood trickled down my arm and I figured I had forty second before my fingers got completely sawed off. I pulled as hard as I could; I ignored the pain, and saw her jaw stretching a bit too far, then SNAP! Her mouth hung limply on her face as she started disintegrating.

I knelt, gasping for air, while I watched the monster turn into a pile of useless ash. I flung my backpack off my shoulder and pulled out the first aid kit. Right now, you might be thinking "Well, Perce why didn't you pull out that knife you packed" well it turns out that normal steel doesn't work on monsters and I learnt that the hard way. I looked down at my chest and my shirt was torn to pieces. While my shirt once white it was now dark red. I took out an antiseptic ointment and dabbed it all over my chest and hands. The wounds on my chest weren't as bad as I expected, aside from the blood loss it was nothing serious. My fingers though were half sawn off and I could barely move them. I wrapped myself up, did a halfhearted clean up job, packed and headed off towards the library.

As I walked I took out my water bottle, drank about half of it, then screwed the cap back on. I put it away because I knew I would need it for the way back, and that was okay because now I was changed, feeling fresh and full of energy. I don't know why water does that to me but I am not complaining, my chest stopped bleeding and my hands no longer hurt as much. I read somewhere that water was the elixir of life but it doesn't seem to have the same effect on my mom.

It was still dark so I thought about using my flashlight but it might alert more monsters that I snooping around in their territory, so I let it go and kept walking in the dark. The trees became fewer and soon I was in the surrounded by hundreds of concrete buildings.

"Should be around here somewhere…" I thought aloud. I checked the entrances of the buildings around me, deciphering the dusty names in the dark. Finally I found it. It was a large square, gray, four story building. The door creaked as I opened it, I should have realized it was weird that the door happened to be unlocked but didn't, so I almost carelessly walked in to the spooky dark library. I turned on my flashlight as soon as I closed the door behind me and did a quick check for monsters careful not to point the light out the windows. Dust hung in the air making the rays of light visible, though after a brief check I found nothing suspicious. All I saw were piles and piles of books, all were super dusty but books are books regardless. Even though this place was scary I felt a sudden surge of pride and felt that the day was already turning out to be great. My mom would be on a happiness high when I would later bring a pile of books along with a sliver of hope. The thought made me smirk.

The place was huge there was a second floor balcony, stairs that were meant for you to sit on and a blockbuster on the third and fourth floor. It probably took me about and hour and a half to find the right books. I was already starting to get tired so I went up to the third floor, sat down and put my back against the inside banister while simultaneously laying my back pack at my side. I sat back against railing above a high celling room for a minute and sighed before reaching for my backpack searching for food. I pulled out the can of peaches and opened it with the cooking knife. I pulled out a peach and ate it a bite at a time savoring the sweat flavor. I was licking my fingers when a cold female voice rung out in the darkness and sent shivers down my spine.

"Seems like I finally found you" She said.

Right then my heart stopped, my whole body shook and I accidently bit my finger really hard.

I felt the salty taste of blood from my finger in my mouth as I ordered myself to calm down. I was lost for words when I saw her. She was probably eighteen or nineteen, had long dark hair, and a perfect body, but that's not what got my attention. She was upside-down, hair falling towards the floor. The situation was defiantly weird and awkward as she stood, or is it hung?, there looking at me with calculating and very, very dark blue eyes.

"I h-have no idea w-what you mean" I awkwardly stuttered revealing my lack of composure. I took a long deep breath, trying to exhale all my fear and confusion in the process. I slowly stood up meeting her gaze, with difficulty, head on keeping my face emotionless.

She completely ignored my comment and looked me up-and-down, or should I say down-and-up, for the last time before two large silver hunting knives appeared at her side. My heart skipped a beat for the tenth time that day and my throat went dangerously dry. I tried to say something but either she didn't hear me or the words didn't make it out of my mouth. The beautiful girl with really scary weapons did a weird summersault like maneuver and landed right-side-up a few yards in front of me. My damaged fingers slipped around a strap on my backpack while my eyes were still on her. The girl had her game face on, business was the word that came to my mind when I saw her expression, but in her eyes I saw a pinch of regret most likely pity but it was so fast I thought I imagined it. Without any following verbal exchange she charged.

I shone my flashlight in her face trying to blind her right before she swung at me. Fortunately she missed, unfortunately I was falling. I made a quick gamble and jumped over the banister, I was on the third floor which was high but the fall took a lot longer than I expected. The really bad thing about my falling situation was that I had jumped too quickly for my own good and was falling in a really awkward position. I hit the building's cold marble floor with my right shoulder first. The shock coursed through my body and the pain started to cause blackouts in my vision. I let out an agonizing yell and new instantly that my arm was dislocated or broken if not both. If that wasn't bad enough after my shoulder hit the floor my head hit the floor… hard. The flashlight in my hand had skidded across the floor and stooped at the foot of a grown man who was more than a few yards away from me. I could barely make out his features with a broken arm and a likely concussion but I made note of his fancy suit and long blonde hair that was held back in a pony tail. I was almost unconscious but not quite, I made it to my feet and aside from sore they seemed fine. "Fine" was more than enough to get me out of there, and my limp slowly turned into a jog that turned into an all out sprint. I was undoubtedly running for my life and with all the adrenalin in my veins that was the best motivation I could have gotten anytime to have gotten me out of there.

**I will be updating around once a day for the first 5 or six chapters since I already have a good part of the written, but feel free to review and make comment so I can change stuff if necessary.**

**Can anyone predict what's going to happen?**


	4. Not My Friends

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Third Person POV**

Well isn't that interesting, the man thought. The boy was undoubtedly a child of Poseidon he concluded; the kid reeked power, seriously mental, and was stupid enough to think he could escape them. He watched his partner slowly walk down the stairs her black silky hair brushing up against her back. She could be considered tall, was usually calm but could turn explosive when provoked, and her name was Lalantos: female titan of hunt.

"They should have assigned you to him from the very beginning" the man praised, "this is probably just like another simple hunt to you."

Lalantos gave the man a distant look, came down the last step, and walked half way across the dark marble library floor before speaking.

"Let's just get this over with" she said with a face ridden of emotion and walked out the old library door soon to be followed by the titan of crafty council himself, forethought, and manipulation himself: Prometheus.

**Be patient readers, the new crap is still coming.**


	5. Why I Like Peach Cans

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

**Percy's POV**

Have you ever run a mile and finished completely exhausted? Well try running _ten_ miles. I was back in the forest running, and pushing branches away from my face. My adrenalin took me a good distance but soon enough it wore out along with all my energy. In the same way that my limp turned into a jog which then turned into a steady run away from certain death, my run turned into a jog that turned back into a slow painful limp. I was still clutching my right arm trying to keep it from moving and hurting, when I noticed a slight mist forming between the trees. Not good, I thought. Visibility zero was the last thing I needed; the trees alone were easy to get lost in but I guess since I could still get around the heavens thought a good thick mist would do the trick and get me lost.

My legs felt like they had been dipped in acid and my chest had started bleeding again. The pain was ludicrous. I was dying, there was not enough oxygen circulating my body. I collapsed and inhaled desperately as I turned onto my back and squeezed my heart trying to drown the pain. Water, I thought. I could no longer breathe when I finally managed to yank off the cap of my water bottle. The water bottle was empty before I knew it and life flowed back into my body. Thankfully everything worked again; the pain in my legs, chest, arm and head subsided. The moment of panicked was over, more importantly I had a new wind, though knew even if hadn't gotten one I would have to keep moving.

I could have sat down and spent all day thinking about the miracle water but I had a really big problem to worry about. _I finally found you_ I remembered the girl saying. The thought alone sent shivers down my spine but instead of thinking about it I took in my surroundings. I looked up and the sky was getting slightly lighter, minutes later the first birds started chirping. I flung my backpack over my shoulder and started walking trough the forest, occasionally leaning up against a tree to catch my breath. In a matter of minutes, the outline of the factory became visible and my pace sped up. I reached the kitchen door ready to faint but managed to push the door open. 

"Ahh! Oh my, Percy thank the gods it's just you" Her expression changed three times: it went from shocked, to relieved, to whatever is worse than shocked. I decided to take a break, and look at myself for a moment in the kitchen mirror, and see what was wrong. Summarizing I was blown away, in a bad way. I looked horrible my hair was messed up and dirty, my face covered in blood and grime, my shirt torn with bloody bandages underneath, my arm was clearly broken, blood was still dripping down the right side of my head, I had bandaged hands and a bunch of cuts allover my legs probably from running through the forest. I gave her a halfhearted smile, but her face remained freaked out. 

"Perseus Jackson, what in the world is going on?" my mom asked. I hesitated but then told her the whole story. I told her about the library, the harpy and the girl the guy. When I finished the only thing, you could hear was our clock ticking in the background. Then my mom swore for the first time in her life. 

"Fu*k" She muttered as if she just realized something, obviously to my confusion since nothing that happened made sense to me. She ran across the room and pulled out a wickedly sharp cooking knife, while I just stood there watching in confusion. First she walked up to the stove stood there for a moment and then cut our yellow gas cord in half. 

"WHAT THE HECK!" I bellowed. My mom acted as if nothing had happened and returned my halfhearted smile. I panicked at the smell of gas, she had just dug our grave a dozen feet deeper and now we were in even seriouser, serious trouble. I didn't know what she was planning but just then windows somewhere in the building broke. I heard a lot of glass shatter and hit the floor around on the floor, but I was distracted when a huge ant broke down the kitchen doorway. My heart skipped a beat when I realized what it was: a myrmeke. I remembered learning about them; they were very rare, very powerful, large Indian ants that liked shiny stuff. This one was particularly large though, so big it couldn't get through the doorway. It snapped its pierces a couple times and then backed away to let someone through. The man in the fancy suit that I had seen at the library walked in followed by the beautiful maniac girl also from the library. Just as they came in five monsters in bronze shiny armor burst though the door behind us and raised their bows. They were teleklines, monsters that were half dog half seal, and each one had a bow-and-arrow that was glowing slightly in the dark. 

I looked at my mom for moral support but she was obviously just as scared as me. I was trying to act confident, but the chances of our survival were just to slim, heck even I'd have my money waged against me. My heart was pounding, sweat was seeping off my chin, and my legs had turned to Jell-O. My mom was looking at the man in complete horror. 

We stumbled back into a corner and I stepped forward as a human shield. 

"My, my… you must be the famous Sally Jackson" the blonde man said smiling, "you probably don't know me, but believe me when I say that I a fan… Deceiving everyone like that, you and me are more alike than you may realize" The man said it like a compliment but my mom didn't look at all flattered.

"I know quite a bit about you" he continued. His expression and tone were getting darker the more he spoke.

"I read all reports on you, and though it may have taken me a while it seems that I figured out what you are scheming… Looks like you have a dangerous hand" He said while nodding his head in my direction, "And unfortunately we can't let you play" he finished this time nodding in the direction of the teleklines.

Two of the monsters lowered their bow-and-arrow's and stepped forward while the other three eyed us carefully ready to shoot at any moment. As two monsters approached my mom who had been pale white seeming almost unable to move up until a moment ago reached in my back pack and randomly pulled out a can of peaches, not even hesitating to throw it at the telekline closest to us. It hit his head and a second later hit the floor together with the same telekline. The monster didn't disintegrate but didn't look like a reasonable threat unconscious. I charged the second monster pushing him into the line of fire just as the monsters standing back let a dangerous volley of their shiny arrows fly.

As the monster and I tumbled into the line of fire I realized to things. One being: Dam that was dumb; and two being: I am probably stronger than I look. In the fraction of the moment that I had before arrows reached me I noticed that the monster I was pushing was at least a foot taller than and his hairy arm muscles were a lot bigger than mine. How then? I don't know, but what I do know is that I was angry, really angry.

One of the arrows grazed my cheek splattering blood all over my face while the other two hit the telekline I had tackled. One in his neck the other pierced through his bronze body armor and logged itself into the monsters back. He disintegrated on the spot and left me holding a heavy bronze body armor suit. I hurled it at the other three monsters and instantly regretted it after my, broken and dislocated, right arm sent blinding amounts of pain though my body. The armor knocked the monsters over and at my moms order I jumped over them and ran out of the room.

"Percy go!" my mom cried as she charged the girl, and as much as I hate to say this there wasn't much contest. There no point in being optimistic because the girl was brutal; she dodged my mom's attempt of a punch and kneed her in her stomach, punched my mom in the face hard and with her silver hunting knife, that appeared out of nowhere, made a serious gash across my moms stomach. I couldn't turn around and help my unconscious mom at the time but swore revenge. 

The moment I left the kitchen I found myself in my oversized and very dark pantry. The place was the closet thing to a maze I could get with canned food stacked all over the place, rolling production line tables dividing the room, and tall machines everywhere. I stopped to choose which way I wanted to go at an intersection when an arrow hit my backpack quickly forcing me back into a run. Who knew the books in my backpack were arrow proof when bronze body armor wasn't! Navigating a dark place like this was hard to do without getting lost, especially in the dark, the sun was probably coming up by now but very little light makes it in the pantry regardless of the time of day and for the first time of my life I was glad the factory didn't get electricity. Even though my money would still be waged against me, if I could take a bet, playing their game in my territory was probably the only chance I had, not that it was much to consider since I was seriously injured, could barely see through the pain and blood in my eyes, likely had a concussion, and I was breathing as silently as most bears with microphones strapped to their nose's do... Yes, I have been told that I have a big imagination; anyway, I forgot to say that I am unarmed though I don't think it makes much of a difference at this point. The only fighting chance I had was if they split up… or if they randomly got super sick, but regardless I am going down fighting and to do that I first have to shamefully back off, then regroup and go back to fight – actually, who am I kidding. Regroup with who or what? It's just me out here; the only thing I can regroup with, is the right arm I think I dropped a while ago. I was worried about my mom but this was about the best thing I could do to help her. 

I ran around trying to find the best spot to launch an amateur's ambush. The best I could find was on top of a machine, much less than ideal but it was pretty hard to think give the circumstances. It took me a while to get up, but I did and began waiting.

My heart was pounding and I couldn't stop shaking. I tried to make less sound by holding my breath, but that only made it worse. I tried to calm myself down with the few happy memories from my childhood. I thought back to when my sister and I were playing at the beach, the mid-night conversations with Grover. Those didn't really help either, if any thing they made me more desperate to see my mom get out of this alive. Then I started thinking about the ocean, strangely that thought calmed me. It's weird how it worked for me, since when the ocean was calm so was I, and when it was restless so was I. Right now the ocean must have been calm because the more I focused on the water the more control over my body I gained. Soon enough I stopped shaking and my breathing slowed.

I was wondering if I would be joining my dead friends and family today, and what they would say if I let my mom die. Before I could muster up an answer two people came around the corner. 

**Sorry if there is a misunderstanding, but this story is a polished and longer version of the other one.**

**I think I may be pissing some people off so I will publish a few other original chapters that I have written.**


	6. Girl In The Kitchen

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson**

**Third Person POV**

Lalantos paced the kitchen with her body and face composed, but her were eyes restless; moving and observing everything around her. The three monsters stood absolutely still trying to avoid any attention while Prometheus was leaning up against the wall checking his watch and shaking his head.

"Relax, he'll never make it out of the building and if he does he'll literally get chewed out by the myrmeke's" Prometheus said and laughed at his pun. 

"You want to wait for re enforcements?" he asked provocatively

"No" Lalantos hissed back, "we will end this now, get this over with. You guys pair up and I'll go alone." She didn't wait any longer and rushed out of the room. The silence she left behind was broken by Sally Jacksons moan.

"What do we do about her?" One of the monsters asked as he stepped over his still unconscious comrade.

"Leave her there she won't be going anywhere" Prometheus answered then walked out of the room followed by three teleklines.

**Sorry if this is annoying but each time I change the point of view it will be a new chapter.**


	7. Killing, Running, Dying

**Disclaimer: Eu nao escrevi Percy Jackson and the Olympians, foi Rick Riordan. (No one told me I couldn't write the disclaimer in Portuguese!)**

**Percy's POV**

I saw two people, or shall I say things, come around the corner moving quickly and silently. I could only make out their silhouette's and at first I couldn't tell but eventually I noticed that neither were human. My muscles tensed and I narrowed my eyes trying to calculate their distance. I was planning to brain anyone who was unlucky enough to come by but I only had one good arm so I couldn't take on both at the same time. I had counted on the fact that this place was too big to scout out together, and was hoping that they would be traveling alone but I decided not to be picky. I opened my left hand as wide as I could and presses my face against top of the machine hoping that the shadows concealed me well enough. Then one of the two spoke as they came closer. 

"You sure he's around here?" I couldn't tell which one spoke but his voice was rough. Then an equally rough voice answered. 

"Yeah. This isn't an ordinary halfblood, he's extra…"The monster said struggling to find the right word, "powerful" the monster concluded.

I had forgotten that the monsters would be able to sniff me out and at that moment I was pretty sure the miscalculation would mean my death. Anyhow, the monsters were almost in my jumping range.

"Are you sure that you don't mean 'extra tasty'?" one of the monsters commented to the other. They laughed at their stupid joke as I lay disgusted on top of a rusty machine, imagining their deaths as they thought about eating me.

"I've never eaten a-" the monster stated but never got to finish. I jumped off the machine and came down hard catching his head with my left hand using the momentum of the fall and my own strength trying to smash the dam monster's face inward. His face hit a machine that was opposite to the one I was just on. The sudden movement took its toll on my dislocated right arm sending waves of pain through me as my arm freely lashed around. Despite the pain I had enough composure to think, "eat rusty metal you piece of sh*t!" The monster slid to the floor completely limp but didn't disintegrate. I turned around just in time for a kick to connect with my face and send me tumbling backwards into a stacked pile of canned food.

I felt blood rush out of my nose that I was sure to be broken. I rolled over holding my face with my left arm trying not to put pressure on my broken right arm, which was limp at my sided, and look for any make-shift weapon at the same time. I saw a faint light between all the chaos and no it didn't come down from the sky, nor did appear as a tunnel, it was something small and shiny. I grabbed at the light, and came back with a beautiful bronze ring, even though I am not a really a fan of jewelry and accessories, this ring was so intriguing it was almost seemed hypnotic. The glowing started getting stronger until three small holographic images circled above my hand. 

The monster looked his unconscious monster friend up and down, before he unsheathed his wickedly sharp bronze sword. He let out a really deep roar which was quite nerve-wrecking and then charged. 

He came strait at me and raised his sword. I waited last minute to roll to the side where there were a few cans, so it ended up being quite painful. His sword bounced off the floor and he swung again. I dodged and kicked him with what was left of my strength pushing him back and giving myself enough time to stand up. Instead of running I looked at the ring in my hand and the newly formed holographic images. When my vision came back into enough focus, I saw what the holograms really were. They were weapons: one was a long sword, probably pretty long. The second was a spear, I couldn't make out to much detail but it looked insanely sharp. The third hologram was actually two crisscrossed short swords. I had no idea where the ring came from or what exactly the holograms meant, but just then the monster came close enough to me swung his sword. I jumped back just in time to miss being cut and in one last desperate act I searched for the one thing that I really needed. My eyes moved ridiculously fast up, down, left, right while my mind repeated one word over and over again _weapon_. Unexpectedly the ring responded to my mental plea, and became heavier in my hand; I looked down and saw a three foot long sword in my hand. 

The sword was a glowing bronze, was insanely sharp and had a Greek inscription carved on the blade. Anaklusmos, Riptide I translated, it was perfectly balanced.

"What the f-" I started but didn't finish. The monster swung at me and I awkwardly met his swing with what I like to think of as my new best friend (a.k.a the sword). The monster's swing was strong, in fact so strong I almost lost my grip on the sword. He swung at me twice more holding his sword with two hands and I met his both of his strikes with one. My right arm was still limp at my side and the pain it caused me when it moved filled my vision with random black spots. I knew I couldn't keep up with the monsters pace for long so swiped at the monsters face trying to get a luck hit. My swing was awkward and my movements inconsistent while the monster blocked easily and moved accordingly; his every move was trained, everything soldier style.

I swung at the monster once more and he met my sword with his. Sparks illuminated the room for a split second. I turned and struck at his face. He deflected again but was slowing down. I kept pushing harder; using moves I didn't remember learning. Then his sword hit my hilt, I knew it was a rare possibility, so I twisted my sword and sent his weapon flying across the room. He stumble back in disbelief, I took the opportunity and jumped onto the rolling table. As soon as I was on the table I jumped down using the extra momentum from the fall to strengthen my slice. I cut strait the hand he raised in defense and halfway through his neck. He disintegrated slowly, his body turning to ash and blowing away even though there was no wind inside the building. The clatter of his armor and sword echoed into the darkness.

I stood there in disbelief still unable to make sense of the event. I looked at the sword in my hand just… thinking. The dead monster's partner shifted position and moaned, reminding me that he was there. I walked over and stared down at him and then his eyes opened slightly. He looked me up and down, at my sword, and then at the armor behind me. 

"Do it" he croaked. He closed his eyes acknowledging his loss. I raised my sword. My breathing got heavier and my stomach started feeling cold and uneasy. My stomach protested but I raised my sword.

"Well, we all die some day" I concluded and brought down the sword into his neck, '_just some sooner than others'_, I finished in my head. Up until that day I have never killed any rational being before in cold blood, like now, or in defense. Unfortunately my stomach had its way and I ended hurling digested peaches and stomach acid. 'They dissevered it' I convinced myself before getting up and wiping my mouth on my sleeve.

I had gleaming bronze sword in my hand, dried blood all over my body, and a broken arm but was feeling restless on my second adrenaline high that day, so I quickly set off around the corner to launch my second ambush.

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Adrenaline coursed through my body, blood dribbled off my chin and my mind was on the edge of an involuntary shutdown. Of course the eventful day had taken its toll on me physically; injuries, blood loss and having my sense working overtime when I should be laying down patched up and unconscious, but the day had affected me in an even more serious way: it had affected me psychologically. Everything up until now had been confusing and by now it has been more than just a few hours of endless shock and fear. I had killed today four times today, nearly died at least 8, and every time I rounded a freaking corner I had to mentally deal with possibility I could run into my murder. If that wasn't enough I saw my own mom get maimed by some freak girl who could walk on the ceiling of old libraries. To say that the day had freaked me beyond belief would be a serious understatement, and now mental collapse was just another threat on the very long list I already had. Who knows I may already be crazy but unfortunately I was sure this the day's events were not a dream; the pain coming from each movement I made spoke for itself: this was reality. 

I wish I could say I was feeling strong and brave, but by now it's obvious I was not. Emphasis on the not. I was beyond scared, considering that the royal army's monsters were in my house, and were acting somewhat hostile. Well, let's say my luck would still drop to explosively low levels I just didn't know it yet. 

The fact that the machinery room now reeked natural gas wasn't helping me concentrate, I gripped my sword tightly and carefully stepped over a few fallen cans. My objective was the kitchen but I ended up just about everywhere else. So much for playing their game in my territory equals an advantage. After a bit of pointless wandering something finally happened, and no, that is not good. My heart never beat faster, because standing in front of me was the one chick I could kill. The girl with, beautiful dark black hair, pretty dark eyes, a slender body, and equally beautiful silver hunting knives, which I suspected to be stained with my moms blood. Our encounter was far from formal, so there is no better way to say this: I ran into her... seriously, like I t-boned her at 10mph. 

The whole incident happened because I heard something knock over somewhere behind me, so I ran. There's nothing you can say to make fun of me, because you would have done the same thing, but it was because of the fact that I was running away from the enemy that I ran into my enemy, literarily… I guess that's what you call the height of irony.

Our collision could only be described as sad, I mean I didn't even have time to brace myself and it's a miracle I didn't get stabbed… I mean not only were there the two knives she was carrying but I could have very well stabbed myself with the very dangerous sword in my hand. After the collision I thought about asking if she was okay but the fall probably hurt me more than it did her since I made the mistake of putting pressure on my right arm.

The pain brought me back in full alert long before her, and I was already swinging my sword at her before she had even sat up. Despite her shock she was superhuman sort of agile blocking my swing with her knife quickly and successfully maimed me around my shin before I could do anything to protect myself.

We backed away from each other in union, me in pain and her in her normal calculating attitude. Needless to say she was up before me, and with each passing second one thing became clear, I seriously hate to say this, but I was going to die. The show was clearly reaching its end; before me was a shady chick with serious skill standing ready to kill, while I was struggling to even stand up; it took me 4 times longer than usual to get up, since this time not only had I been deprived of my right arm, but my left shin had a really ugly gash that was oozing blood and also caused excruciating pain every time I applied the slightest amount of pressure to it.

My body was already going cold by the time she spoke to me.

"Turn yourself over. Serve us" the girl said with a hint of pity in her voice, "it's the only chance you've got."

She waited for my answer and for a split second I picked out another emotion in her voice that didn't belong given the circumstances: concern.

I was too busy swallowing the blood that kept appearing in my mouth, to bother verbally responding, since each drop of my blood was necessary to my body considering how much I had already lost, so I remembered something that someone had once taught me and my sister. That someone was a guy named Paul Blofis and he used to live with me, my sister, Grover, and my mom, he was super cool and yes he is also dead.

One day in an old city apartment where we were living at the time he showed me and my sister a gesture that he deemed provocative. I was 7 or 8 at the time so I eventually showed my mom and consequently she chewed me, Paul, and my sister out, telling us never use the gesture. I didn't exactly know what it meant but if it was provocative enough to get that reaction out of my mom there was no better situation to use it than now.

I didn't intend to join the titans since every bad thing that had ever, ever happened to me could be some how related to them; all the deaths, all the fear and constant running had been because of them. My decision had been made, so accordingly I tucked the sword underneath my right arm lifted my left hand towards the girl and raise my middle finger.

I saw her smirk and glare at me simultaneously before she charged two silver knives ready to cut me up. It was one of those common kill or be killed situations that had happened to many time in the day for my taste. My mom's life was resting on my every move and at that moment I had absolutely no plan, luck or skill to guarantee her survival and much less mine.

I remembered a useful piece of information just as the girl jumped up on a table then off in my direction. I remembered the holograms I saw appear above the ring a while ago. The sword I was holding looked identical to the single holographic sword that appeared around the ring. While trying to put 2 and 2 together a not so comforting idea popped up in my mind.

I decided to gamble my past, present and future on a hunch, when I didn't turn around to run and scream a really unmanly scream. While the girl came towards me in what seemed like slow motion, falling in my direction with knives ready to create unnatural holes in my face, I mentally repeated the word "spear" over and over again until the sword in my hand physically changed into… yes, you guessed: a spear.

I held my breath and then trusted it out in front of me just as she impaled herself into it. The girl screamed in agony and fell to her knees with a spear that wasn't there before in her stomach.

"Yay" escaped my mouth before I knew it, but my short-lived reason to celebrate was completely pushed aside when I saw what was coming out of her wound; golden blood. Golden blood was flushing from the wound! That was probably one of biggest what the H moments of my life and unfortunately I realized what this meant. She had said it all earlier, _join us_ I remembered, it finally hit me this girl was a titan. 

She let out a scream as I tore the spear from her body. The spear shrunk into a small piece of metal that ran across my palm and snaked around my hand until it reformed into a ring around my index finger. I decided to leave her there in pain since I knew there was no way to kill her and limped on towards my old objective: my mom.

More grime accumulated around my face as I pushed on, and now there was a lot of golden blood on my jeans. My shirt now stuck to my back, and beads of sweat mixed with more of my blood dropped from my chin. As I rounded the corner I caught one last glimpse of the girl/titan; she lay on her side in a pool of her own golden blood gapping for air and looking up at me exhausted, in what looked like excruciating pain. I smirked at her and gave her a small salute in order to make the situation as humiliating as possible for her. I didn't wait to see her expression and walked around another corner expecting to see the remaining enemies. 

I saw a light turn on in the distance. "Mom" I thought and took off after the light. I rounder a corner of machinery mixed with piles of canned food and saw light that wasn't to far away. After all the time I had spent in the darkness the little bit of light was already blinding, I had to hold my hand in front of my face. I started to walk after it. My limp sped up though I remained unable to run. I came out into an open space that ran across the wall of the in front of the kitchen. 

"Mom!" I bellowed, "MOM! Are you in there?"

My hand was inch from the doorway when something really big and heavy rammed me from the right. All the bones in my right foot up to my right shoulder must have broken, though I suppose it okay since a few of them were broken anyway. I was hit by a charging bull and it wasn't fun, I seriously don't recommend the experience to anyone, it doesn't make a good prank either so stop thinking about trying. I flew across the room spewing blood from my mouth. I crashed into a stack of cans that must have broken the remaining 20% of my bones. The pain was just too much, to the point where I could no longer register any of the pain; my vision was fading quickly and I guessed that I probably had another 10 seconds before I went to the after life. As it turned out I would have definitely preferred to have not seen those 10 seconds.

My head turned in the direction of the light and I soon saw the bull; it was brown, larger than normal and it was definitely floating until it shape shifted back into the blonde haired dude I had seen before. 

I heard my mom scream and the man laugh, but soon both their voices turned from distant to nonexistent. I saw the mouths of both my mom and the titan move but couldn't hear them. My mom was all teary eyed, I wanted to get up and comfort her since to me it was really painful to se her cry but trying to get my body to move was like trying to go back in time; something I had tried before and would soon try again but I knew it was simply impossible.

Before I knew it tears were running down my cheek, as I looked at my mom's desperate situation. I am still not sure if I was crying because of the physical pain I could no longer feel or because of the overwhelming fear that pierced every part of my broken body. It was fear of death, but not of mine, I feared my mom's death. She was the last of my family; me and her were survivors, we always had been and to see this was to much. Right then she turned and looked in my direction. Our eyes met and I made out the unmistakable sadness in her eyes. She turned away from me and took something out of her pocket, her back was turned to me and she was saying something I couldn't hear at the titan while her hands moved on their own accord. I made out the match and match box long before she struck it. The only other of my senses that was working beside my sight was my sense of smell. I had figured out her plan for a while, and I was desperately hoping it wouldn't come to this but since I failed to do anything she had to set thing right on her own and now the only way was burn everything, the wood, the people, the air, and specifically the gas. Due to my failure the match was lit along with everything and everyone.

The explosion was huge, a monstrosity of an explosion. The machines in the building must have had some explosive chemicals in them. The last thing I remember was rising with the flames, a smoking body (no pun intended), with tears in my eyes falling towards the ocean. 'Suicide' I thought as I fell towards the greyish blue ocean never expecting to wake up again. I was a goner, and it wasn't up for debate.

(PERCY NOTE: I did all that sh*t before I ate a proper breakfast)


	8. My Hobby Is Officially Dying

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

**Percy's POV**

"Couz, wake up" a deep gruff voice said. Someone nudged me, "come on we don't have that much time" 

"Come on what's the point he is just as useless as his father" this time a female voice said.

"You know the point, he's our only chance" the gruff voice retorted, "look he's waking up". 

I sat up without opening my eyes, strangely my body felt fine. Weightless for that matter, the sensation was surreal. I opened my eyes to see two blurry images standing before me. 

"Mom?" I asked hopefully. 

"Idiot" the women cursed. 

"Not your mom, your cousin" the gruff voice said, "I'm Hephaestus and this is, uh, my sister Athena" 

"Interesting names" I pointed out while rubbing my eyes. When I was done my eyes came into focus and I saw a weird couple. The man's face was brutal and grimy, his hair was a mess and his body was uneven; almost cripple. He had scars all over his arms and his hands were super dirty and thick. He wore a dirty jumpsuit and had an uncombed beard that was full of little flames that sparked every once in a while. Hideous would be the best way to describe him.

The woman on the other hand was beautiful. She had beautiful grey stormy eyes and gorgeous light brown curly hair. She had a deep tan and was wearing full battle armor which I think was Greek. The only thing they had in common was that their faces seemed timeless.

"Got any last names?" I asked. 

"No just those" they responded at the same time. What a waste of time, I thought. My mind moved on to a new pressing issue; 'where am I?', I though. In every direction there was endless white in every single direction and I wasn't exactly sitting on anything solid more like floating in a fixed position. 

"Sorry, but my family is dead" I said swallowing the bitter feeling that arose with the comment.

"What?" Hephaestus asked taken aback.

"You said that I was your cousin" I responded casually. 'I'm hungry' I thought. 

"That's offensive, spawn" the women hissed, trying to insult me.

"'That's offensive spawn'" I mimicked in a shrill voice that clearly wasn't hers. The woman named Athena glared at me and started doing a series of slow inhales and exhales. 'Food' the back of my mind pestered.

"You look sick" I commented

"I'm not sick" she managed. I waited a moment and decided to ignore her claim.

"When you hurl do it that-a-way" I said signaling off into the endless white. Athena started breathing through her teeth, while glaring at me. I waited another moment then spoke.

"Okay?" I asked her. The woman's eyes went wild daring me to keep annoying her. I tried thinking of something provocative to say but nothing came to my mind. 

"Calm down Athena, we are here for a reason" the man reminded. 

"Fine" Athena huffed.

"We have a proposal" Athena said.

"Well, I'm flattered" I said emotionlessly, "but I don't think I'll be of much help since I am dead"

"What do you mean" Hephaestus asked. I wondered why I should bother answering them. Obviously I didn't owe them anything, they were strangers and serious weirdoes. But it turned out I was board, and dead for that matter, so talking didn't seem that dangerous. I waited a few moments and then cryptically answered.

"Let's just say '_they'_ found me" I said. I waited a moment but the looks on their face's told me they were still waiting.

"And outcome was less than ideal" I finished.

"Who's 'they'" Hephaestus pressed.

"Figure it out" I carelessly answered. Hephaestus seemed to be calculating something while Athena simply nodded.

"You're not dead" Athena stated after a while. Hephaestus was still thinking when Athena answered, and I was still hungry.

"No~, it turns out that I am dead" I corrected in annoyance.

"No you're definitely alive" Athena countered again.

"Are you _really_ going argue with me about this" I growled.

"We wouldn't be able to contact you if you were dead. So that means you are still a living candidate." Athena assured me.

"Candidate to what" I asked suspiciously after a short pause.

"An operation" Hephaestus said suddenly. I started to say 'no thank you' but he continued urgently, "An eye operation specifically. You see, no mortals are able look at gods or titans in their true form. They simply can't process the information, and consequently their brains turn to ash. Right now, every one who tries to go against the titans die's, mostly because of this. The titans are too strong; they are united, Kronos is at his prime, and all the gods are locked up. Even our old allies have gone to their side not to mention some of our children-"

"Our?" I rudely interrupted. Then it hit me: Athena! Hephaestus! Their names were obvious. I couldn't believe I had been so slow. That was another one of my life's biggest 'what the H' moments. Then I considered the alternative; they're bluffing. I composed myself and apologized a little suspicious. Athena took up where Hephaestus left off.

"These eyes we are talking about transplanting are actually one of our latest mechanical inventions not to mention the only chance the gods currently have, since we are definitely not strong enough to make anyone immortal which is the alternative, besides it took us 50 years to gather enough energy for this conversation. These mechanical eyes are the only way someone would be able to withstand the energy that comes from seeing a titan or god in their true form and be able to fight them. Its pretty obvious we are out of options." Athena finished.

What she said was weird. They expected me to accept their proposal right there, when I wasn't even sure I could believe anything they said.

"How can I believe any thing you say?" I asked seriously, "You being gods, and the latter?"

Neither of them of them seemed offended by the question, and each one continued to look serious, if not a little desperate.

"We are here, aren't we?" Athena answered. I looked around again and saw the endless white in every direction; weird place. I had no idea where 'here' was or what to do, but I didn't lose my cool.

"And you expect me to simply go along and be your little experiment?" I asked a little too harshly, "what if something goes wrong?"

"What have you got to lose?" Hephaestus answered my question with his. His word struck me harder than the bull that broke all my bones. Then, as if he read my mind, he pounded me with words again, "All mortals die one day, don't they?"

I'm not sure if I should have cried, tried to run away, laughed a crazy laugh, or what not. But I should not have…

"Okay, I accept" I said uncertainly, scared beyond belief, and obscenely confused.

Athena and Hephaestus looked at each other still emotionless.

"This is really going to hurt" Hephaestus said with a smirk in his deep gruff voice, and then he snapped his fingers. The couple instantly vanished.

I woke up and instantly heard myself scream the loudest and most agonizing scream I possibly could have screamed. The scream mirrored my distress perfectly. I was in pain, serious excruciating pain. It hurt a lot more than it did to break my right arm. My eyes felt like they were being roasted, being dipped in acid and being ripped out repeatedly at the same time. It was absolutely and undoubtedly excruciating. I continued screaming. I tried to move, but trying wasn't exactly enough; my body didn't obey my commands, so the only thing I could do was scream.

I felt someone trying to calm me down with soothing words and wet towels, but it was in vain. Every part of my body was in pain but my eyes were just… I don't know how to explain the pain, words simply aren't enough to describe it. Things were really confusing to me at that moment, but the one thing that I was almost sure of was that I was going to die, again.

"It's okay. It's okay." A soft female voice kept repeating trying to comfort me.

My eyes were closed so I couldn't see, but I felt something press against my lips. 

"Here this should help sooth the pain. Open your mouth." The female voice ordered. I obeyed and let her put something in my mouth. Unexpectedly the taste was familiar. The taste took me back a few years, all the way back to the years where Grover still hung around me and my mom. It was my ninth birthday, and Grover had brought my mom some rare ingredients from our daily city forage. With the ingredients my mom made one of the most delicious delicacies I have come to know: cookies. Not only were they tasty but came in my favorite color: blue. I had only had them once in my life, but I remembered the taste of 'cookies' very well. Not only did the thing that the girl slipped in my mouth bring back memories, but it also alleviated the pain all throughout my body. I tried to thank her, but couldn't. I tried to open my eyes and look at the person, but couldn't. So I did the only thing I could: blackout.

**Hey I have to apologize for the last couple chapters. They were sloppy and poorly checked, summarizing; I screwed up.**

**So, sorry. I will try to be more careful with the next chapters.**

**Enjoy.**


	9. The Life Of Leo

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

**Leo Valdez POV**

The view I had was breathtaking, so breathtaking I considered the possibility that it was an illusion. Very few things in my life were beautiful like this, shining lights, moving cars, and the freaking Chicago skyline below me as I sat on the ledge of the Sears tower. I wasn't at the very top but I was high enough to be able to look down on the surrounding buildings. The icy wind was blowing strong and I had risen above the hazy city air. Undoubtedly this was the best gift I could have given myself even though my birthday wasn't due for another 5 or 6 months.

I enjoyed the view as my feet dangled 1,500 feet above the pavement. I came up here trying to distance myself from the life I lived on the ground; the life of constant running, the life where I was cursed. I preferred it much more up here where it was just me against the wind but I knew it couldn't last. Probably to piss me off the fates sent two security guards right after I thought that.

I heard their step's before they spoke, despite the crazy strong wind. I was back in alert, back in a bad mood and my hands were already heating up. I was seriously pissed off. Right when I was catching my breath people come to remind me that I have made the wrong enemy, the enemy I can't escape; the world and its people.

"What are you doing up here. You are not supposed to be here" I heard one of the guards yell over the wind. My back was turned and I still hadn't seen the guards yet, but assumed that there were only two and that they didn't exactly know who they were dealing with. I heard worry in the guards voice, and figured that the guard thought I was some depressed employee and was thinking about committing suicide.

I sensed the guards approaching so I decided to stand and meet my problem head on. I heard the footsteps stop and realized the guards were afraid I might jump. I turned around and saw two women in in the buildings dark black security uniforms.

(A/N: I know you thought the guards were men)

The shock on their faces was priceless, and seeing it was strangely felt rewarding, to bad it was soon to be replaced by fear. One of the women was closer to a teenager than an adult but despite that fact I knew both women had recognized me. Neither of the guards hesitated to draw their side arms. My expression must have been pretty scary because both of the guards looked terrified, but they still weren't running. I tried 'scaring protocol B' which was to form small fireballs in my palms.

"Get out of here" I hissed hoping that they would. The women looked beyond horrified as fireballs flickered an away from my palm. The guns in their hands were shaking but they still didn't back off. I was getting the feeling I was going to have to kill them but I continued searching for an alternative. I shot a really weak fire fireball in their direction that disappeared in the air a few feet in front of them. It didn't hurt them but it didn't get them to back off either, rather it got me the worst reaction possible. They opened fire.

Technically, against me, they barely classified as threats, but the bitter aftertaste of killing normal people was rarely worth it for me. Don't get me wrong I am far from a saint, heck, I'd never even classify as a good person. Rebel, asshole, murderer and terrorist, were words that people constantly used to describe me, so why didn't I simply kill two security guards? Well, maybe aside from those four words I could be described as 'gutless', but reason aside I rarely found myself killing mortal's, at least not on purpose.

I had decided not to kill them, but if I was not careful I could end up with a few 9mm pieces of metal in my skull. Fire was the only weapon I had on me, and it would be impossible not to kill them with it, so I started considering my alternatives which turned out only to be one. On the roof there was nothing that I could hide behind of; no barrels, cars, or walls to use as cover, so there was only one thing I could do. I slowly looked over the buildings edge; the 1,500 foot drop almost made me lose balance, though it wouldn't really matter since, before I could un-convince myself I jumped off the freaking Sears Tower.

I'll assure you that falling isn't my favorite thing to do, but I had a reason to jump. I heard the guards freak as I tipped out of view, but a half a second later I was out of their range. You're probably thinking there's some grand plan that will guarantee everyone's security. Sorry to disappoint, there isn't. Wind rippled my face and tore at all my exposed skin. Could I fly? Um, no. My jeans and shirt whipped and flapped around at insane speed as I cut through the wind. Could I save my self from the approaching asphalt? Yes, but to do that I would need to create a big explosion to counter my momentum and that explosion would probably kill a lot more than just two people. I spread my arms and legs trying to slow the fall. What was I planning? My body caught flame and I rapidly started gathering energy and increasing my temperature.

I took a deadly gamble when I jumped off the side of the Sears Tower; complete success meant a maximum of one death, when even a partial failure, in my point of view, meant a minimum of 20,000 deaths. Yes, I was going to attempt stopping my fall with a big boom. Why would I do that after everything I said about not liking to kill normal people? Well, it's because I was counting on someone coming to stop me. It's pretty shameful to admit that someone could stop me but the whole being 'wanted' thing, that I have to deal with, comes with a few catches. One of those 'catches' being: people come after you, and the scarier you are, the scarier they are.

I was falling really fast at that point and almost at street level and aside from me having jumped of a building, something was off… or on in a different point of view. Even though it was really hard to see because of the fast winds piercing my eyes I could make out the water filling up the streets. I heard a water tank blow up as I fell past a buildings roof and could faintly make out a layer of water against every single visible building's walls'.

I was so close to the flooded street now that it would barely take a second for collision. Right then, not a moment to soon, a huge geyser shoot up from the street to meet me. Water closed around my body at incredible speed and it would have definitely ripped off all my skin if it hadn't been evaporating on contact.

Before it was too late I let loose all of the energy I had been gathering in one huge boom. Fire shot from every pore on my body and immediately came in contact with the water around me creating massive cloud of thick steam. The muffled sound of my explosion shook the city block and immediately caused panic. I heard people running, crying, and screaming all around me but because of the thick cloud of steam I couldn't see crap.

I miscellaneously shot a beam of fire from my finger tips, careful not to overdo it, trying to create an upward draft and get the steam out of their. The light from the fire reflected off the 10 million water droplets in the air, making everything around me look like the sky at sunset even the dirty water I was knee deep in.

My stamina was already half spent from my first explosion but, due to the fact I couldn't see my enemy, I was already planning on a second. I wasn't scared but my heart was beating really fast and hard, to the point where I could hear each pump, which cause serious anxiety as I silently waited for my enemy to show up .I probably had quite a few enemies hiding somewhere inside the cloud of steam, but there was only one I was wary of; Naomi Anderson.

Naomi was a psycho, but a very powerful psycho. She's what the 'Royal Army' likes to call a compliant half-blood, being one of the various demigods that follow the titans' every command. She only around 16, which means she's around my age, but is already some big shot in the military. The unfortunate thing that I have to deal with is that she doesn't really like me, and by observing patters I can assume she's here to kill me. I have only met her a few times before, all of which were here in Chicago, but her abilities are so unique that I could probably recognize them anywhere.

"LEO!" I heard her angry voice ring out in front of me. She sounded really pissed off, though technically she had a good reason. Over the last two months I had spent in Chicago I had her running around trying to capture me while simultaneously protecting the city from my harmful hands. Even though I wasn't keen on killing hundreds of people it was pretty useful to have my enemies thinking the opposite, so I didn't back down and attacked her and the city every time she got too close to capturing me. She did a pretty good job of protecting the city but keeping her on the defensive was what was keeping me alive.

The mist that had swept the blocks around me finally began to rise and I saw my enemies for the first time that day. Behind me were Gregory and Vinson… something. Each one was at least twenty, blonde, muscular and tall but I really didn't pay them much attention since they weren't a babe or really that much of a threat to me. To me they were simply Naomi's blonde stooges. I didn't know their last names but picked up their firsts during a few verbal exchanges, though setting my uninterested in them aside they were each somewhat skilled in their own way.

I good distance in front of me I could make out the outline of Naomi Anderson through a rapidly swirling funnel of street water, and despite the distance I caught a glimpse of her beautiful sea green eyes.

It seemed that Naomi wasn't in a mood for another discussion, probably since she always lost, because before I could even greet her a wall of water rose from the section of the street before her and as if it had been pushed, flew towards me…. Okay, before I start describing our skirmish I need to describe Naomi to you. For starters she was hot. She had dark straight black silky hair that went halfway down her back and hypnotic sea green eyes. She was tall and thin but curvy. Beautiful but dangerous. Smart but feisty. Summarizing: my type. She could be considered a pretty sizable force on her own, and consequently had been assigned the mission of taking me down; dead or alive.

My heart's beat shook me back into reality as a huge wall of water approached. I waved my arm in front of me and effortlessly created scorching wall of fire. My body temperature had peeked again and the water around my feet was boiling not to mention evaporating quickly. More steam formed as her attack collided with my wall of fire as boiling water shot upward. I heard splashes behind me and knew that it was the blonde stooges trying to flank me, so I ran forward into my dissipating wall of fire and the thinned wall of water that Naomi had created.

I skillfully slipped through the walls of water and fire before me creating even more steam and charged forward in Naomi's direction. Naomi was still behind a funnel of whirling water so I could only see her silhouette but it was enough to see her raise her hand as the water on the street rose to enclose my body.

There wasn't nearly enough water to cool me off so it all evaporated an inch away from my body. The steam that formed was enough to blind me from a volley of hardened water arrows that were hurling towards me. I saw about four arrows appear in-between the steam when they were only 5 feet away from me and was helplessly too slow to be able to dodge. Each arrow would have inflicted a critical wound if they had connected, one to the heart, lung, eye, and forehead, but they evaporated. Normally this wouldn't matter but instead of evaporating an inch or two away from my body these arrows made contact with my skin before becoming steam.

Naomi's water meeting my skin during a fight was a rare occurrence, despite the number of time we fought, and it meant that she may be able to actually do some damage if I wasn't careful. I figured my temperature was lowering and my defenses were becoming weak because I had spent a lot of my energy on creating the big explosion earlier, so I raise a wall of scorching flames as a second, larger, volley of arrow shot towards me.

"You and your water will never be able catch me and my fire" I yelled from a distance and kept moving forward shooting fire at the arrows that she kept sending. After I had advanced close enough and was shooting blazing beams of fire from my hands at her defensive funnel of water she answered.

"I'm not here to catch you" I heard Naomi scream from behind the funnel of water, "I'm here to put you out."

After she gave her witty comeback I heard a splash behind me that shattered my concentration. With a shattered concentration I couldn't support my fiery assault on Naomi, so the beams of fire quickly ceased. I instinctively ducked as a sword swiped at the air above my head, nearly cutting me in half. I rolled to my left in the street water, which was now only ankle deep, and turned to see the blonde stooges stab at the spot where I just was. I kicked one of them, I think Vinson, in the face when he tumbled towards me.

Now that I had overcome Gregory and Vinson surprise attack, they were screwed. I was out of their range and they only had celestial bronze swords to defend themselves from my fire. I shot a beam of my densest and hottest white fire and accordingly a wall of fire rose from the flooded street.

Right then things went crazy. Me being the strategist I was, came up with a plan in the crucial fraction of a decisive moment that I had been presented with. Basing my counter attack off the behavior of my enemies I figured out what would happen before it did.

A large wall of water, around 20 feet high, appeared at Vinson and Gregory's feet, pushing them back but protecting them from me. Well, not really since I didn't even attack them. As a consequence to her actions Naomi's protective whirling funnel of water fell back to the ground leaving her virtually unguarded. Predicting all of this, I didn't even waste my time with the stooges and shot a beam of dangerous white scorching fire directly at Naomi.

The white flames engulfed her body obscuring her from sight. The wall of water fell back to the street, brushing up against my legs and almost washing me away, as Naomi's scream cut through the air. I didn't exactly want to kill Naomi, but as it turned out she was a problem that needed to be taken care of.

Her very essence was related to water so she would be hard to kill with fire but not impossible. Hard to do but not impossible, so while the blonde stooges were down I took advantage of the opening and focused all my energy on the beams of fire that shot from both my fingertips.

I could feel Naomi resisting the fire, by summoning a protective case of water but it turned out to be useless. I had her trapped and unless something happened quickly she would be at my mercy. As it turned something did happen; after about twenty second of roasting Naomi's resistance toward my fire started gradually lowering, while the volume of her scream grew.

I saw one of the stooges approach from the corner of my eye and immediately stopped my assault on Naomi. I turned to meet a more imminent threat: Gregory. He came toward me quickly, sword raised and looking pretty mad. I tried to form a sword of pure fire in my right hand, but could only form about half of one. Strengthening fire is a lot harder than strengthening water, since it can rarely be contained and can't be given a definite shape unlike water which can be put in a glass or jar. Hardening fire was something I was still working on, though my basic skills worked well enough for me at that moment. I met Gregory's downward swing with the unfinished sword of fire.

The sword in my hand disappeared into the air after the shock but gave me enough time to land a punch in Gregory's stomach. Normally a 15 year olds punch won't be 'that' dangerous, but Gregory fell to the floor with his skin still sizzling from the contact. There was a hole, burnt at the edges, around the size of my fist in his shirt, and a really ugly third degree burn on his torso's skin, which dripped blood and formed a bubble at the same time.

Understandably Gregory screamed from the pain, dropped his sword and clucked his wound. I kneed him in the face, when he bent over, and let him fall back unconscious onto the flooded street with a splash.

I picked up Gregory's fallen sword and admired it. It was celestial bronze, which is a hard metal to craft, but it had intricate and detailed designs all over it. Beautiful curving lines plagued the surface of the sword while it glowed a soft golden brown color, rewarding it with an even more dangerous feeling.

I blocked a swing from Vinson who was now desperately trying to kill me with his own sword. Close quarter combat wasn't my specialty, since I preferred incinerating my enemies from a distance and because the quick sequence of movements that were done while fighting made concentrating on creating fire very difficult.

Vinson pushed me back as he swung, rolled, stabbed, and pivoted. He was a quick fighter no doubt, but was also strong and determined. I blocked one of his swings to my face and quickly countered, trying to cleave off his right arm. We continued to duel as Gregory lay unconscious, face up, in the street water occasionally groaning. As my sword continually met Vinson's I literarily started heating up again.

Needless to say that the street was still plagued with steam, and that the water at my feet was still boiling, but right then something else was getting hotter: my sword. My sword was beginning to glow an unnatural fiery orange color. With each hit of our swords more and more sparks formed.

I pivoted off my left foot and pushed Vinson back with a swing at his right side. He jumped back just in time to avoid my attack and came back jabbing at my heart.

Thing were reaching the end when he swung upward at my face. Instead of deflecting the attack I rolled to the side and jabbed at his shin. I managed to nick his left leg, and though it wasn't a really deep wound, it was smoking. Not only did the wound smoke but it created an opening; a costly opening. Vinson awkwardly brought down his sword for defense as I brought mine up to attack. The shock was a bit too much for him, and, with the sparks, his sword flew up and a way.

His sword fell into the flooded street, a good three or four yards to my left, with a nice loud splash. A second later Vinson fell back into the street water with a nice splash as well, only he had my burning sword in his left shoulder.

You may think I am heartless, but I actually consider myself pretty merciful for not killing Vinson and Gregory when I could easily do so. Despite my overwhelming victory I was e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d. I was panting non stop and my head was pounding.

I looked over and saw a pink looking Naomi on her knees, glaring at me, equally spent. She was probably ten yards away but I could still hear her radical panting. I gathered energy for, what I was hoping would be, one last attack. And after ten second I shot, from my palm, a deep blue beam of fire in her direction. A small part of the streets water rose to form a wall for defense creating a lot of steam, while the rest of the street's water rose 30 feet in the air. It was an impressive thing to do, considering the fact that she had nearly been cremated, though more than impressive it was scary.

There was at least 5,000 gallons of dirty street water up in the air after the rest finished rushing around the corners. Finally the street became clearly visible looking only a little damp. Naomi's eyes were glowing with power and the water above me was thrashing around like the ocean often does. Thing were tense as she tried to close off any possible escape roots, while I silently started summoning more fire.

Despite all the water in the air my environment was quickly becoming arid. Accordingly water descended from the source above and formed a protective barrier around both Gregory and Vinson, just as pillars of fire erupted around me turning the street into a literal inferno.

Building's walls caught fire, glass windows melted, the street's asphalt cracked and all around me more and more flames sprouted from the floor. The pillars of fire around me shot up toward the floating lake just as the whole thing came cascading down directly on me.

Fire and water met each other halfway and though I hate to admit this, her 5,000 gallons of water were slowly pushing my raging fires back. I need to get out of here, I though desperately. And by that I knew that not only did I need to get away from this street but this city as well. And with that thought in mind a new wind blew through me. The fires around me started forming faster and a long 10 seconds later the 5,000 gallons of liquid water were naturally floating around as a gas.

With all the steam in the air it became really hard to breath and I'm sure I nearly fainted at least a dozen time not to mentioned tripped over something, since the steam cloud could even obscured objects a foot in front of you. I was dying from the power overuse but managed with the last of my strength to put out all the flames around me. Drained, I tumbled forward and was able to find Naomi though the vapor. I reached a girl lying on the street floor face first looking as beautiful, exhausted and as innocent as a 'Royal Army' Colonel can.

I considered my options as I shaky stood looking down on her. She was an enemy and serious threat; which was proven 3 times over today. Despite those reasons I didn't want to kill her, maybe it was my old self kicking in, but right then things became very clear to me and I made my decision.

"Next time" I said coolly. I saw her eyes open slightly and was once again disarmed by her sea green eyes. I turned my back and casually walked away as blaring police sirens approached. Next time, I repeated inside my head.

**What did you think?**

**Do you like to know about the other characters lives, or should I just stick with Percy?**


	10. Things Change

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

**Nico POV**

I walked down a long white marble corridor with a massive monster at each side, trying to savor the silence, but unfortunately as I moved the jingling sound of my cuffs ruined it for me. The, high celling, corridor had various large timeworn windows that let abundant amounts of light in, and that light efficiently reflected off the, golden, crescent moon banners opposite to them.

The Royal Army's Brigadier General, Ciera Maxwell, walked a few feet in front of me and the monsters. She was my age, which is 16 by the way, and had chestnut brown hair. She was shorter than me by at least three inches, but had an extra 30 feet of cocky attitude crammed inside. You may be wondering how someone so young can reach such a high position in the army, well the answer is one word: connections. Nevertheless, aside from being the daughter of the male titan of intellect and heavens, Koeus, she was individually skilled and strong, possibly able to lay waste to a small city alone.

The sound of our footsteps bounced off the walls, creating a seriously annoying echo. Thankfully, we reached the end of the corridor, and came face to face with a 15 foot tall two piece wooden door. I took a slow and deep breath as the monsters pushed the door open, revealing a large court room full of shady figures. The room was about twice the size of college auditorium; it had a rectangular shape, though unlike the exceptionally lit corridor the room's light was moderately filtered by fancy purple curtains, which had the familiar golden crescent moon knit into them.

As soon as I entered the court room, all eyes turned to me. The two monsters stood back in the corridor and quietly closed the wooden door behind us. Ciera, escorted me forward through the room; which had an extravagant, tall, golden ceiling, decorated in extensive foreign patterns, and from that fancy ceiling hung three enormous chandeliers. The rooms left wall was basically a horde of contiguous wooden archways, also complexly decorated, that either had a 15 foot tall banner or door, while the wall on the right was covered with expensive looking windows and purple curtains.

Even though the room was large and had at least 200 seats for spectators, there were only a handful of people spread throughout the room. I recognized a few faces, while others remained hidden in the shadows. I picked out Major General Mark Aurelius, a friend of mine, from the crowed but didn't bother greeting him and he didn't greet me. I kept walking, with my eyes directly ahead, under the piercing gazes of the high ranking Royal Army officers. Theoretically, this place would be packed with curious and flabbergasted military officials but the higher ups decided that only the exceptionally powerful and high ranking could attend. Meaning that everyone in the stands was at least a one star, Brigadier, General.

I finally passed all the spectator's chairs and reached a, cutoff, opener area that only had a few places to sit. Off to my right a little high up on the wall was the Jury's Box, which was packed with, yes you guessed, the Jury. In front of the Jury's Box still to my right, was a sizable table with a few comfy looking chairs though they were occupied by 3 normal people, and two monsters; one dracaena and one telekline. In front of me loomed the Judges' Bench which had nine human looking characters, though I was sure that 2/3's of them were not. The "Judges' Bench" was the proper name, but the place where the nine dudes where sitting did not look like a bench, more like a long curving table that was close off on one side.

As I had moved through the rectangular room I had evidently gone down, because now I was boxed in by high wooden platforms all around me. There were a few other things in the cutoff section of the room but none of them were really important, so I walked off to my left and casually sat down... at the defendant's table. Yes, I was being sued.

Ciera took out a small golden key and slipped them in my cuffs. In the rooms eerie silence she discreetly grabbed my hands while unshackling me and as I looked up she gave me one of her sincerely sad looks. With out a word she walked away with my cuffs in her hand. I slowly rubbed my wrists and looked up at the judges before me. There were a total of nine, and supposedly this was the country's Supreme Court, so quite a few were bound to be 'descendants', meaning someone who is both the child of a human and a titan. The man at the middle of the nine judges was probably in his late fifties, since he had greyish brown hair and a few wrinkles, but didn't look to old. He also had a pair of beady dark brown eyes that watched me carefully.

"With the defendant present, we will now begin session" he stated with a pound of the gavel.

I sighed in pity of myself and awkwardly nodded to whatever came out of the judges' mouth's as I efficiently drifted off.

"General Di Angelo your 'affidavit' please" The middle judge asked bring me out of my light daze.

"Oh, of course" I stood up quickly, accidentally kneeing the table I was sitting at, and said what I had rehearse, "I swear that all statements I make today are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

The judge calmly nodded to me and I quickly sat back down.

"Thank you, now we will proceed to the briefing" The middle judge informed just as a short formally dressed man, with black hair and black rimed glasses, stepped up to a podium at the base of the 'Judges' Bench' and began talking into a small microphone.

"The 16 year old Major General Nico Di Angelo is here by being tried for the series of crimes that he committed on September 25th after operation 'La Plata Seige', which was conducted by 37 year old Major General James Morris O'Conell in Argentina. Di Angelo is being sued for treason towards the empire, insubordination towards the Army, and the felony murder of both a fellow and senior Army officers; the Major General James Morris O'Conell, son of Menoetius; the titan of anger, violence and rash action, and 23 year old Lieutenant General Edgar Melanus, son of Themis; the titan of law and order."

At the sound of the two generals names a flashback knocked me out of the present and into the past. I vividly remembered the event before the incidents that got me here.

It was a stormy grey day in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina and I was leaning up against the American Consulate's main building, which had become the Army's eastern headquarters. My troops had made excellent progress overnight and had pushed back opposition forces a good 30 blocks with minimal casualties.

Even though our enemies didn't live in the city, the fact that I was in charge of capturing a country's capitol proved my greatness. Still no matter how big of an honor it was 3 weeks of nonstop urban warfare was wearing me out.

It was only 7 in the morning but with the thick storm clouds above, abundant amounts smoke and air plagued soot and ash it was dark enough to be 7 in the evening. Bags had formed under my eyes, my black hair was a mess, and the camouflaged army suit I was wearing had more than just a few visible coffee stains.

"General" someone calmly called behind me, "you're needed at command."

I sighed and turned to see the familiar, brown haired 34 year old, Major, that had been assigned to me for this operation, smoking one of his cheap cigarettes. He followed my gaze to the cigarette in his mouth and pulled out a box.

"Want one?" he asked comically, waving the box full of cigarettes in my face.

"No" I answered bitterly and pushed past him into the stairwell. I descended three flights of stairs before reaching a high tech underground bunker. Four armed dracaena stepped away from the entrance and saluted me as I walked in. The commands main room was about the size of hotel lobby, though it had a low ceiling. White florescent lights illumined the room which contained at least 350 people. 

"Major General Mark Aurelius wants to speak to you about the latest military report on the war's development." The Major said behind me. I continued to walk through the bunker silently checking a touch screen pad that the he had handed me. All around me officers worked feverishly; a lot of them were speaking the military gibberish into their headset while checking the city maps on their monitors. Others hurried from corner to corner with digital notebooks or cups of coffee. Aside from all the high-tech monitors along the walls there was a large table in the center of the room with a huge 3 dimensional holographic map of the city. Miniature soldiers moved across the map representing the real ones' actual movements on the actual battlefield.

"Did he say specify why he'd want to do that?" I asked the Major, while inspecting the 3D map.

"No, sir" The Major stated and after a pause went on, "General, he scheduled a conference call with you for 06-20"

I stopped looking at the map for a second and uncomfortably checked my watch. 6:27. I sighed, and turned towards my personal quarters which was in the back of the bunker.

"Send air support to the company of basilisks, and order the scorpion faction to secure a 200 meter perimeter around that northern mall." I said to the Major as I walked off, towards my office.

I reached a medium sized room which was cutoff from the main one by a thick wall and a large bullet proof window. The wall opposite to the door was covered by a monitor its length, and on that monitor was an oversized projection of an annoyed looking Mark Aurelius. As soon as he saw me he started his rant.

"Did you know to keep these conference calls safe it costs 25 dollars a second!" He yelled, "and it already been 7, so that's" he started mumbling but stated yelling soon after, "that's 10 and a half grand already!"

"Calm down, you're wasting more money" I pacified.

Mark huffed but straitened his suit and changed his expression from angry to serious. Mark was 19 years old, was a skilled fighter, and though you couldn't see it because of his long sleeved army suit, he had really defined muscles. He was a Royal Army Major General like me, and was the son of Metis; titan of planning, advise, crafts and wisdom. Titles and ancestors aside he was a nice guy; he didn't discriminate against demigods like other officials and always knew what to say to help. In the military life there wasn't much time for young Generals to have fun, especially since our country was at war, but from time to time Mark always showed me and a few others a way. He was sitting in his own office in an expensive looking chair.

"Why did you call?" I asked as I plopped down in my simple rolling chair. Mark studied me in silence for a while; his body immobile, eyes racing.

"No reason" He clearly lied. There was something definitely up since he had been complaining about my lateness and made a big fuss about cash but didn't just cut the connection. I tried to think about what it might be.

"I just called hear how the siege is going, form you" He said trying to cover up his tracks.

"Oh it's going good, you know, few casualties, civilians staying out of our way, progress on the streets. It should be in the report" I said suddenly remembering why he called me.

"You wanted to talk about the report, right?" I asked

"No not really" he answered in an easy going voice, while shaking his head.

"I think I might read it this time" I stated, baiting him for a reaction. As it turned out the bait worked.

"Why would you do that?" he asked a bit too weirdly.

"Is there something in the report?" I asked suspiciously letting him know that I had caught on.

"You didn't happen to read it, did you?" He asked seriously.

"No" I assured him good naturedly. Mark expression darkened and his mood took a darker turn.

"Then don't" he growled from his office, leaving me confused. I didn't exactly understand why he was acting up, but with each word he said I became more interested in the report.

"Why shouldn't I?" I asked rebelliously, "You don't really have any authority over me"

"Nico it's for your own good" he promised angrily. This was weird, Mark seemed angry but I saw serious concern in his eyes. I had never seen him this worked up. Even in my confused state I knew something serious had happened.

I rolled up to the monitor, on my chair, where Mark's face was projected and pulled up a digital keyboard. I quickly began typing in codes and looking for the latest South American war report.

"What are you doing!" Mark asked furiously, partially hidden by a few programs I had just opened. After another 2 seconds I found the report, and only had to read the first three lines before my mind went into turmoil.

I brought up another program on the screen and pressed a red digital button.

"Sir?" I heard the Majors voice ask.

"Prepare a helicopter for me" I ordered harshly and then cut the line. Mark had his hands on his head and looked torn.

"You don't have to do this" he said weakly. I looked him up and down, trying my best to hide all my emotions.

"General Aurelius, don't try to stop me" I ordered, suddenly all formal, before walking out. At that moment I could barely think strait, my anger spiked and my ability to think rationally plunged. What I read in the report undoubtedly changed my life.

"Di Angelo" The middle judge warned, slowly bringing me back to the present. My flashback ended and I once again found myself back in the fancy court.

**Sorry for the delay. School started. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It's a little different from the previous ones but I like it. Tell me what you think.**


	11. The Price I'll Have To Pay

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or the Olympians.**

"Di Angelo" The middle judge warned, bringing me back to the present. My flashback ended and I found myself back in the fancy court.

"What?" I asked through my teeth.

"This is your last chance to summon an attorney" he informed. It took me awhile to remember why I didn't want one.

"Your Honor" I began, "for personal reasons, I believe I am the only one capable of representing myself and will do so in this court."

The middle judge nodded though I could tell he didn't care.

"Then the plaintiff (the guys who were suing me) will present their case" He said and pounded his gavel.

Consequently a big bulky guy off to my right rose from his table. He had blonde hair, glassy blue eyes, and had a recognizable military posture. He was probably around 40, though was still somewhat fit, and was wearing a pearly black suit.

"Your honor, before anything else" he began in a German accent, "the plaintiff requires an explanation for the defendant's actions"

The room's air seemed to drop ten degrees as the blonde man made his request. After all, this was the reason why 99% of the spectators decided to attend the trial. The pressure was on me and I knew that I couldn't just refuse to give an answer. It was going to be tuff to confess my actions, considering a few of my friend were in the room, but I did owe them something at the very least an explanation. My situation was making me unreasonably angry.

The middle judge nodded in agreement.

"Very well" he stated.

There was a noticeable anxious murmur in the behind me that somewhat messed with head.

"Your explanation?" the blonde man pressured slowly.

"What's the point" I blurted out accidently. Too late, I thought. There was no going back the words had left my mouth.

"Who are you kidding anyway?" I questioned provocatively not expecting an answer. I didn't get one so I continued…

"Everybody already knows that I have already been convicted guilty ever since I was caught. There's absolutely no point in continuing this floosy trial, since we're only going through the motions to appeal to the public. Don't get me wrong, I really don't care and I'm not complaining, but to have to answer pointless questions is a waste of my time."

There were a few snickers, but no one seemed to be willing to not get an answer out of me.

"Di Angelo, an answer in required" I center judge calmly replied.

"Why did you abandon your post on September 25th and murder the two Generals?" he pressed slowly.

Needless to say, things were not going my way and by this point I had lost so much there was really no point on clinging to pride. The room was quiet cold and uncomfortable, the perfect place for an interrogation, so I sighed and began my explanation.

"I didn't end up becoming the highest military ranking demigod in this army by chance" I huffed, "I was promoted because of my skills, values, and achievements. Not because I was the son of some random titan's-"

"Relevance, your Honor!" a short brunette yelled from her table. She looked offended, not that I really cared, and was trying to appeal to the judges through despite glances. There was some murmur in the Jury and between the judges.

"It's to prove a point" I explained calmly

"Then continue" the middle judge stated.

"I became a Major General through hard work" I almost yelled, "And I served the army unquestioningly as long as the orders were for the greater good. My loyalty to the army shouldn't be questioned. Rather what the real question is, is why I would kill the Major General and Lieutenant General."

The room was tense; all I could hear was silence, before me were various piercing eyes and behind me were a handful of stabbing gazes.

"Most everyone here has probably heard the saying 'those who kill will eventually be killed' seeing as most of us are killers. It's a constant cycle that we consciously repeat. It's not something that most people choose to do, but I still chose to take on the responsibility to kill so that countless others could live in peace. Summarizing I have done unspeakable wrongs in the name of this army, for the common people" I said.

It may seem like I'm telling a useless story but in reality I was, in my own way, trying to appeal to the jury,

"Now, the wars in South America have been pretty long and bloody, but to me the objective was still to create a safer environment for civilians. So that's why when I read the report one thing became very clear to me… to me Major General James O'Conell had to die since he attacked people who had nothing to do with the war!"

I saw the judge sit forward and behind me heard a few whispers.

"Obviously, that's your misguided opinion. In the report it says that the commoners took up arms and/or were sheltering our enemies." The big bulky guy said, assuring the crowd.

"The reports bullshit" I snapped, "The butchery of 500,000 people in a city of 600,000 can only be perceived as a successful genocide. The event was an undeniable genocide and can only be described as such, so as someone who worked for the better future of the common people I couldn't let something like this slide."

"So as soon as you found out about the progress of the siege you immediately set off to confront the Major General, correct?" He asked and I nodded.

"Correct?" He asked again so everyone could hear.

"Yes" I agreed annoyed.

"And when you fought and killed him it was mainly because of your oversized sense of justice, correct?" The Bulky blonde man asked as he paced around already forming a plan in his head. I hated myself for being so tense but I couldn't do anything as the silence weighed down on my chest.

"No" I said to everyone's surprise.

"No?" the blonde man asked confused.

"I didn't kill him because I though I was better than him and had the right to judge. I wasn't playing god, I simply killed that bastard out of hate. Nothing more nothing less." I hissed.

There was a moment of disbelief that swept everyone in the room, including me.

"Hate?" The bulky blonde asked in shock.

I didn't feel like repeating myself but managed a cold look to the blonde guy telling him to back off. The silence lasted another second before a single loud, crisp, deep laugh shook the room.

"SHUT THE HELL UP PALLAS!" I yelled with a crack in my voice, refusing to turn and look at him. He was one of the three titans present at court, definitely my least favorite, and was also know as the titan of war. Aside from him there were Menoetius and Themis, which were the titans that had their sons murdered by me.

Pallas continued laughing hysterically until the middle judge stuck his gavel at least 5 deafening times.

After order was restored and the whispering died down in the room, I continued to be interrogated by the bulky and blonde man with a German accent.

"So you are letting the charges of a second degree murder go uncontested?" He asked and I didn't answer.

"Okay then" he though out loud and paced the room with his hands on his hips.

"Moving on to Lieutenant General Edgar Melanus, when he left southern headquarters and showed up to apprehend you, was your decision to kill him somehow influenced by his affiliation to your sister, Bianca Di Angelo's, last mission?" he asked professionally.

I took a deep breath, and despite knowing that the blonde man was only doing his job, at the mention of my sister's name, my blood started to boil (figuratively). My anger was randomly spiking and I was doing my best to stay under control.

Edgar Melanus was the commanding officer of the mission that took Bianca's life, so understandably I had a grudge against him. Ever since her death I had had held him accountable, so when I met up with him that night and was confused, angry, and blood thirsty, there was no stopping me.

"Yes" I answered coolly, "To the point where I made his death very slow and painful."

More disbelief shook the courtroom, disbelief which was followed by anger.

I heard a struggle behind me, so I turned to see Themis, titan of law and order, being held back by Pallas who was no longer laughing or enjoying the moment. Themis' eye's said it all, he was thirsting for my blood, he was out for blood.

"You should have seen him scream" I commented adding salt to the wound I opened, and because of my actions the room began to shake with power; the chandeliers' glass pendants clattered against each other, dust fell from the ceiling, and vacant chairs shuddered off a shaking floor.

"That's enough!" the middle judge said with the bang of his gavel.

"He called for you ya know" I lied

"Session adjourned!" The middle judge announced in desperation and a group teleklines quickly opened a large door to my left. The two of them quickly came over to my table, basically lifted me to my feet and began hauling me out of the room while all the officers in the room eyed me in shock. There were no boo's, or clapping, there was only silence. Through all of the tension I gave Major General Mark Aurelius a discrete glance which he saw and nodded in understanding.

I pushed one of the teleklines holding me, to the floor and straightened my self out. The second telekline let go of my arm and backed up unsure what to do, he was waiting for action but in the end never got any. I stood my full height raised my chin and walked out of the room leaving behind one monster on the floor and another monster looking stupid.

The large wooden door closed behind me and I was once again being bothered by the jingling sound of my cuffs. Although I had just gone though a door that was virtually identical to the one that I had gone through not to long ago, I now found myself in a completely different room; this room had no windows, a white marble floor, a long red rug, hanging lamps for lighting, and a few stairs here and there.

As I walked in down the hallway I began thinking about my next move. Seriously what was I going to do? My position in the army was long gone, and I was now an enemy to the titans. Knowing that I had very few options left, one, I could try and escape which wasn't that promising; I mean, sure, I had a few friends in the army who would maybe be willing to help me run but I was definitely not some one who could go missing unnoticed so there would undoubtedly going to be a huge force coming at me the moment I took a breath of fresh air. Plus I had got in this mess by myself so there really was no point dragging other people down with me and even if I did escape there would be nowhere for me to go except the "Opposition" which in my opinion was a pathetic excuse for a resistance.

I came up to another large wooden door and stopped three feet short. The two teleklines who had long since caught up to me rushed forward and pushed the door open. I walked through into a large, white, circular room with a three story high celling, that had walls covered in glass windows, ascending stairs at the back of the room and had twilight lighting. Though it was creepy and all there was only one thing that caught my attention; a man in a pearly black suit that was waiting for me. He had defined muscles, though nothing to scream about, had light brown hair, cut short, and was about six feet two. Even though he didn't appear like any menace I knew that he was the real deal. This man was the titan Asia, the titan of fame and infamy, and also one of the Royal Army's full scale generals. He was two ranks above me and I had served under him before in South America, and though it was only for a short period of time he left a lasting impression.

When he saw me come in his eyes immediately lost all traces of boredom.

I met his eyes and he pointed towards one of the windows behind him without looking.

"You're famous" he stated casually.

I looked at the widow he was pointing to and saw that beyond the glass were a ton of reporters snapping pictures at me. Behind those reporters I could make out an endless amount of people who were also trying to get a glimpse of me.

"Let's go" I hissed at him trying to be cold, though he met my glare with an annoying smile.

"Lighten up, man. Try to at least enjoy the remains of your life." He joked.

"Just get me out of here, todays sucked enough without you're dumb jokes" I sighed

"We'll I guess you've had better day's though I have to admit the amount of attention your getting is making me jealous. I might even consider killing a few generals." Asia said with a chuckle. I ignored his dumbass comment and waited for him to open the colossal door in front of us. He opened it with ease and the moment he did the calm silence of the room was broken by the sound of frantic reporters. And even though the people only a few feet away from me I could barely hear what they were saying.

"-coming out of the building now-"

"Why?"

"Live, from Washington D.C-"

"Di Angelo, Di Angelo!"

A wall of police officers, that were both monsters and human, formed around me and Asia. We slowly moved towards five, all black, fancy police cars. And as we moved behind the cops, reporters continually slammed against the human shield trying to get a few words from me.

Around me was an ocean of people, who desperately wanted to know what happened, and around them were a ton of tall snowy buildings. The flashes of cameras blinded me and sound of my name echoed in my head. Hands pushed my body forward but my mind stayed behind.

"What's going to happen?" someone asked

Good question, I replied mentaly. What **is** going to happen? The thought bounced around in my head and then it finally hit me: I, Nico Di Angelo, am reaching the end of my life.

**Sorry for the delay. I've been busy for a while but just got a 10 day break, so I'll update soon.**


	12. I Am Probably Cursed

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or the Olympians.**

**Percy' POV**

I woke up and passed out two more times after I got an eye transplant from that weird couple. Unfortunately even when I was conscious I was unable to learn anything about what had happened to me, so chances were that I was dead.

When I came around the third time I was successfully able to do more than just listen and pass out. When woke up I realized I was laying down in what I assumed was a bed, which by the way was way comfier than anything I had slept on before, and also felt the golden ring still on my finger. Around me I could make out two people talking, but it took me an extra couple moments to actually be able to understand what they were saying.

To my surprise one of the voices was the very same voice that had soothed my pain the first time I gained consciousness.

"My squad was patrolling the beaches off camp when we saw a huge explosion in the distance. We weren't sure what was going on but then something fell into the water not too far away from where we were. So we pulled it out and ended up with that half-dead demigod, end of story." The nice, soothing, female voice explained as if I was some display.

"Do you think he had something to do with the explosion" a deep voice asked the nice voice.

"Well, when we pulled him out we pretty much thought he was dead. He was covered in deep cuts and had basically all of his bones broken but there wasn't a single burn mark on him so I don't know." The nice voice answered.

There was some silence and by the direction of the conversation had gone I could tell that both owners of the voices were looking at me, even with my eyes closed.

"Strange way to find a demigod" the nice voice commented.

"Not really considering how we found you" the deeper voice retorted, "But the question is, is he really a demigod? And more importantly, where do his allegiances lie?

"What do you think he is?" the nice voice asked.

"Annabeth let's have this conversation somewhere else." The deep voice edged.

"He's not going to be gaining consciousness for another 10 days, so it doesn't really matter." The nice voice, that I believe belonged to a girl called Annabeth, assured the deep one.

"You can never be too careful." He retorted and with that they left the room. That was a weird conversation to eavesdrop on and it left me with a lot of things to think about.

I was left in an uncomfortable silence unable to tell if I was the only one in the room so I decided not to open my eyes just to be safe.

The question, is he really a demigod?, echoed in my mind. What the heck did the word demigod have to do with me? And, by the way, where was I?

I figured that, just as the girl called Annabeth said, they found me on the beach and I was now at some sort of base, but the fact that I was in some strange place with unfamiliar people made me unsure weather I had been rescued or kidnaped. Also nerve-wrecking, was the fact that they wanted to know answers to questions I didn't really know the answer to. Like, is he really a demigod? How the heck should I know! But worst of all was the question, where do his allegiances lie? Because I don't know how to answer that and I'm pretty sure that if I give the wrong answer they will kill me.

I had too much to think about and too little to go on so I decided to take a chance and open my eyes. When I did, I found myself in a small room, alone. The room was simple, but fancy compared to what I had been in my entire life. The walls were a cream color while the ceiling was white, there was no furniture beside the bed I was on, and a beside table, which had a tall glass of something with a few ice cubes.

The first thing I tried doing after opening my eyes was sitting up, which was almost like setting my body aflame. As I sat up, which I did too quickly, my body, mostly my chest, started tearing itself apart. It took a few minuets and various long deep breaths, but I finally manage to overcome the pain. After my vision came into focus I noticed the single window the room had, which was about 2 feet tall and 3 feet long. The window was cool but since I really don't give a crap about windows, the only thing interesting about the window was what was behind it.

Ignoring my nerves, I threw my legs off the bed and began standing. It was painful and I almost fainted but what I saw outside that window was sort of forcing me to come closer. When I got to my feet I noticed that there were two tubes attached to the back of my hand through needles, so I quickly tore them out and turned my attention back to a more pressing issue. I slowly took a few wobbly steps forward toward the window and when I was about a foot away my knees gave way. Though I managed to catch hold my self up off the wall.

Behind the window, outside, was the most beautiful place I had ever seen; there were green hills, around 20-30 buildings, odd but pretty buildings, forming an Ω (omega), in the distance there was a large forest with tall trees, a sort of crop, and a sparkling blue lake. Though those things were interesting there were only two things in the place actually stood out.

The first thing that caught my attention was that sun was shining bright, and at the wrong time of the year. I probably told you, but, in New York, where I lived there were only around 20 days of sun per year. And right now it was winter so it made even less sense for it to be sunny. The second thing that caught my attention, were the people.

I was probably on the second floor of a building because I could see out a good distance and to my surprise there were people everywhere. I fell back from the window and landed on my butt unable to comprehend what my eyes just confirmed. How many years had it been? Eight years, maybe more, since I had last seen someone other than my mom, and now, right outside that window, there were at least a hundred and they were so… military. People in military style clothing or armor, military vehicles parked around, and a good part of the people were armed with swords, spears and almost every other weapon known to man.

My mind was racing and my heart pounding, once again. Who were they? Were they with the titans? Chances were that they actually were, so I started to study the room I was being held in. I didn't feel like a prisoner, since the bed was comfy and I wasn't in chains, but I need to be sure. I lifted myself back up to the window and studied the glass. I didn't notice it at first but I realized that the glass was actually about one and a half inches thick, which is thick enough to be considered bulletproof. That was not good.

I dragged myself back to the bed and caught my breath. From there I made my way to the door and turned the knob. Locked. Crap, also not good. Maybe I was a prisoner, and if so, I had to get the hell away from there. Even though I wasn't sure they were working with the titans, I was better safe than sorry. Plus, the locked door and bulletproof window was a good indicator that I wasn't trusted. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that the safest course of action would be to escape, which is ironic since it's not a safe thing to do at all.

I put my ear to the door, trying to find out if the coast was clear. Though I wasn't in shape for any physical activity I didn't have many options. As it turned out I wasn't dressed for action either. I was wearing one of those weird thin white dresses patients often use. This came to my attention when I noticed the cold breeze snaking up my body. Basically I was naked except for that dress and numerous white and red bandages that wrapped around my arms, legs, and stomach. I repeat, I was definitely not dressed for action.

I backed away from the door, balanced myself, and then tried calming down through deep breaths. Looking down at the ring around my index finger, I realized that I had a chance, even if slim. The side effect of the revelation was that the rings presence confirmed that the dreamlike events at the damp factory, where I lived, were true and that I was currently the single remaining member of the Jackson family.

I stumbled to the side and winced in pain. Basically, I almost had a break down right then and there, but as if planned I heard the door unlock. Reflexively, I threw myself in to the bed and did a half hearted attempt to pull the covers over myself.

The door opened slowly, and a cart came through. I closed my eyes and lay facing the ceiling not really sure what to expect. At first I thought the two people from earlier were coming back with food, but it turned out to be someone else entirely. From what I could tell it was an older lady who was simply here to serve me lunch. While she moved around the room I heard her mumble that I hadn't drunk the "nectar" that she'd left, though she really didn't expect me to. She talked to me even though I didn't answer. The whole experience was awkward but warming as well, since from what I could tell she was actually concerned with my wellbeing. It was nice to be cared for even if only for five minuets.

When she left, silence once again occupied the room and I was left at the mercy of my own suspicion. I sat up a little more naturally this time and noticed that she left a glass of "nectar" that looked exactly the same as the one here before. Beside that there was one of those liquid nutrient bags hanging up on the wall by my bed that was dripping down a tube that was no longer connected to me.

Is it poison? I asked myself. No, why would you poison the dying person you saved? I assured. Nevertheless, even though I was sure that the bag wasn't poison I didin't put the tube back in my hand. I looked at the tall glass that had a golden like solution with ice, and realized I was thirsty. With nothing to lose I grabbed the cup and gulped it down. The taste swept me off my feet, since I had been expecting something cold but got the delicious warm taste of my mothers blue chocolate cookies in a liquid form. It must sound gross but it was seriously delicious, refreshing, hydrating, and some how energizing.

"What the hell is this?" I thought aloud while inspecting the now empty glass. I paced the room distracted by the memory provoking taste of cookies, until I finally remembered that I was still in danger. I studied the room for a second time, this time with my senses acute and my body no longer in danger of falling over.

When I had reflexively jumped into bed, I looked at the celling. Even though it would have happened eventually, at that moment I came to an important revelation: the celling was my way out. Though I had a better chance of breaking down the wall rather than the window, and though to break down the door would be like going around yelling I'm hear in the hallway, my options of escape had risen by one number.

Right then I had two choices. One, I could wait until someone came back to check up on me, assault them and then take advantage of an open door. The only problem with that plan would be that if that person were in a hurry, like the woman who had just come in, then it wouldn't take long for someone to notice their absence. But regardless I couldn't wait around doing nothing. Obviously there was some sort of miscalculation with my health, and this facility believed that I was still unable to attain consciousness, so if I just waited around doing nothing eventually someone would give me proper check up and realize that I was fine.

Theoretically since someone had just come and gone this would be the perfect moment to act, since if this place had a check-up time table set for specific times during the day I would have the full length of the interval between check-ups. I looked up at the ceiling and once again saw the vent. The vent was a square and about the length of my shoulders, so crawling was doable. It was my best chance of getting out, would give would give me the maximum amount of time to go unnoticed, and I wouldn't have to exert myself to much. It was all great in theory but there was a problem: the vent was out of reach.

I soon found myself jumping trying to push it open. So much for not having to exert myself, I thought. I realized I was making a scene, looked out the window to make sure that no one was looking, and abruptly closed the blinds. I tried pulling the bed over but apparently they had anticipated that and cleverly bolted the bed to the floor.

What they probably didn't expect was that someone would have a sword in the form of a ring that could be used to cut off the bolts. I wasn't sure why they, being the people who had brought me here, hadn't confiscated my ring but let it go and mentally asked my ring to become a sword.

The ring obediently expanded into the glowing, bronze, sword. The sight of the sword made my stomach churn, but I managed regain control of my mind and body with a simple promise to myself; not now.

I zealously began hacking at the base of the beds legs, distracting my mind with work. In no time I was done; the bed was a few inches shorter and the floor now had four crooked metal stumps bolted to the floor. I dragged the bed to the edge of the room right underneath the vent. As I pulled the bed over I was greeted by the deafening scraping sound of metal and rock that sent shivers down my spine. In my head I could hear the sound of a clicking clock, which reminded me that I was wasting time. I quickly jumped up on the bed and began unscrewing the vent with the tip of my sword.

It went slowly because the sword was heavy and hard to use as a screw driver, but I managed. The vents lid finally came loose and I pushed it aside. My heart was now beating with insane force because I knew that there was no longer any way to cover up my tracks. It had now become a race against time and every millisecond counted.

My heart and body froze when I heard someone outside the door. All the worst possibilities went though my mind; I imagined a bunch of guards storming in with high powered rifles, imagined the dark haired girl form the factory coming back with the blonde man who could turn into a bull. But all those sickening fantasies were in vain, because in the end nothing happened. At first I was unable to move, sweat rolled off my face, and my mind was paralyzed by the pound of my heart.

I don't know how, but somehow I managed to push down all my crazy fears and begin moving. It started with small movements but I gained control of my body and hoisted myself up and into the vent. The silver, dark and tight vent was far from ideal but I began feeling more confident. To get around in the vent I had to do a mix of the soldier crawl and weird worm like movements, while for lighting I had to use my sword even though it was pretty dangerous to have it out in such tight space. I didn't bother putting the vent's lid back and quickly moved forward.

I took rights and lefts at random and occasionally stopped to look down into rooms. From what I saw I figure I was in a hospital and not a prison. There were other patients like me, none chained, and various nurses. I saw numerous guards but none seemed armed with much more than a sword or spear. In general the rooms that I saw patients in, were much larger than my own, and were usually shared with a dozen other people. Some of the patients I saw were conscious and bored while others seemed to be sleeping. In general the patients were pretty young, late twenties at most, and all had some sort of injury. I saw a lot of things through the vent but not exactly what I wanted, which was a stealthy way out.

I searched for an escape route and after racking my brain for five or six minutes I finally had an idea. It was really risky, but if I did it right I would be walking out of this place with a hell of a story. My grand idea was mainly to change clothe and walk out the front door. But this now presented me with a new problem: where are the clothes? I decided that it would be best to look like one of the guards instead of a patient or nurse, simply because it's less suspicious to see a guard leaving a camp hospital and more suspicious to see a nurse or patient leaving. The guards were all dressed in white/light-gray camouflage pants and had a black t-shirt that had a fancy white O2 on the back.

I immediately thought about the laundry room and began crawling around the vent again. The ticking sound of a clock that polluted my mind kept me sharp and on task. I didn't take time examining rooms like before, I searched desperately for the laundry room. I knew I probably had another hour and a half, if I was lucky, but I didn't slow down, because had learned that I was never lucky.

While I was distracted by time, I passed over a storage room a bit to quickly and heard something that almost stopped my heart. It was a simple small sound but it had astonishing effects on my mind. Crack. I stopped abruptly and lay completely still in the ventilation shaft, listening to my breathing. I slowly started pulling myself forward through the long shiny steel vent which looked pretty golden because of my glowing bronze sword. Crack. I heard the sound again but this time I didn't stop. I continued to crawl through the vent and away from that spot until I felt reasonably safe.

God damn! My heart was beating fast and my adrenaline pumping. I hate admit this but I was scared. Things never went my way, so it was best not to try and stretch my luck. I had to get down, quickly. I silently prayed to every divine entity could think of for help. I desperately needed to get out of this place and as it turned out my desperate searching and praying weren't in vain, because as soon as I found a way to get to the first floor and then to the basement I found the laundry room. It had a few people but it was manageable. I lay in the shiny vent looking down into the room. The room had a few large white boxes, which I believe to be called 'washing machines', and a few carts full of dirty clothes. The people in there seemed to be a variety of ages, but, just like the patients, with a few exceptions, they all seemed young.

I willed my sword to become a ring, so it consequently lost its glow. The once golden vent was now dark. My breath echoed though the vent while my heart beats echoed in my head. As I studied the situation and looked for an opening, I slowly began unscrewing the screws that were holding the vent lid down. It didn't take me long but soon the vents lid was loose and all I had to do was push it aside. This vent unlike the one in my room was high up on the wall instead of the celling. So I had could see everything in the room except for the thing directly below me, above me and to my sides. Across the room I spotted a heap of clean clothes. From what I could tell they were the white camouflage pants that made up half of the guard's outfits.

No matter what from what angle I came at the problem I couldn't find an answer. How the hell was I supposed to get out of the vent and across the room with out getting noticed? The room was large and bright, so there was no way to overcome this with luck alone. There were 9 people in total, 5 guys 4 girls, no guards. My mental clock was ticking and I knew that I was running out of time. I had spent almost all the time that I could afford in this building, and if I wasted any more I would be jeopardizing all the chances of escape I had. At this point any solution would be better than no solution at all, so I did the only thing I could think of.

In the vent I came around and put my feet towards the vent's lid. Without much more thought I gave the lid a double footed kick and sent it flying across the room. I was already regretting my decision but continued with the half-assed plan I had formed. I quickly slipped out of the vent and landed on the room's floor. The people in the room looked terrified. They all stopped messing with the machines and turned to give me their own original looks of shock. The moment I hit the ground I had already begun to move. I leapt forward toward the two closest workers, while concurrently willing my ring to become the larger version of the two crossed sword hologram I had seen in the factory. I was taking a leap of faith when I chose that weapon; mostly because I wasn't even sure the ring could even become two swords. I had only seen it transform into a single long sword and a spear, but neither of those would do in my situation. Luckily my guess came through; the ring heated up on my hand and split in two. There was a lot of light and the next thing I knew; I had two 100% real, wicked sharp, swords in each hand. I swung a different sword at each of the two workers I had approached and knocked them out. Since I used the side of my swords, I wouldn't kill them, but each hit to their heads produced a good amount of blood.

After I took down the first two workers a third one screamed, which in my opinion wasn't good. I immediately charged the screaming worker, and gave her a strong clubbing to the head. After I took out the loudest of my victims' a fourth worker ran towards the door, while another threw a metal tray at me like a Frisbee. I swatted the Frisbee/tray out of the air and sprinted towards the door. On my way I clubbed two more workers in the head which then fell to the floor behind me unconscious. I was glad that my ring came through with the two swords, because knocking people out with the side of a metal sword was really effective. The worker, a girl, had reached the door and was about to open it. I was running too fast and couldn't slow down, so I took advantage of my momentum and slammed into her, shoulder first. It was a brutal slam and her head hit the door, quickly knocking her out too. There were now six down and three standing.

One of the remaining standing workers called for help, so I immediately raced across the room to shut him up. My thin patient dress was now stuck to my sweaty back, and because of all the movement I was no longer feeling cold. I swung at the closest worker, but he managed to dodge. He fell over heap of clothes and rolled away from me. I heard someone coming up from behind and sidestepped a worker that was trying to sack me. I kneed him in the stomach as he tumbled into a metal cabinet. After taking him down another worker came up behind me and kicked the sword in my left hand across the room, as the worker, who had rolled away from me, called for help. With one quick turn and an upward swing, I took out the worker who had kicked my sword away. Without thinking about what I was doing, I ran toward the last worker. He eyed me in terror as I sailed towards him and gave him a flying kick in the chest. He fell back gasping and unable to continue calling for help. I fell back too and awkwardly hit my back on the ground. It hurt but I managed to get to my feet.

I limped across the room, over to the metal cabinet. I searched the shelves; there were cleaning products, a few bottles, doctor masks, and also what I was looking for. In the bottom left corner of the cabinet there were two rolls of duct-tape which I immediately seized. I ran back over to the gasping man and bound his arms, then legs and finally sealed mouth. I quickly repeated the process with all the unconscious workers, carefully doing the best job I could. Everything happened so quickly that I can barely explain what happened. Ever since I kicked open the vent I had been on autopilot. I don't even know where I got the idea to tape everyone up. When I was finally done, I sat back exhausted. I had fought a lot in New York before, but usually not with a good weapon. So you could say I was somewhat proud of myself for pulling this off.

As much as I wanted to sit back and rest I knew I had to get going. There were now two things that could send this place into a frenzy. One, if someone waked into my room and saw me gone, and two, if someone walked in here and saw a bunch of tied up workers. I wiped the sweat from my brow and walked over to the heap of clothes I had seen before. I slipped on the white camouflage pants and overturned heaps of clothes until I found a black shirt that had a large white 'O2' on the back. Now that I put it on and could take a closer look at the shirt I noticed the white word 'Opposition' across my chest. I hadn't seen it before because the font wasn't as large and the 'O2' on the back. But now that I had the shirt on and had seen the words I became really confused.

Opposition? I had never heard of them. There were probably only a handful of people in New York, so I really didn't get to see that many people. Nor was I very well informed, but no one I had ever known belonged to an 'Opposition'. I wondered if it was an opposition against the titans, but decided to think about this issue later. One of the workers groaned and looked me in the eyes. She was pretty young, had brown hair, and was looking pretty dizzy. I noticed that underneath her stomach there was a black baseball cap. I walked over and carefully pulled it from underneath her. Confused and still in shock she eyed me in fear, scared of what I might do to her even after I backed away from her with the hat. The black cap had the white word 'opposition' across the front too.

"Thanks" I told the girl as I slipped it on.

I was now almost completely dressed. I had the white/light-gray camouflage pants, had the black shirt, and even had a hat. The only thing that I needed now, were some shoes. I casually took a pair of shoes off of a guy who was about my height and put them on. He was still unconscious so he didn't complain. Counting the my newly acquired shoes I was ready, and was about to leave when I saw a pair of sunglasses on the floor. I didn't know who's they were but I took them, and put them in my pocket, regardless. After I picked up my swords and turned them back into a ring, I walked out off the room into a long, brightly lit, empty corridor.

The corridor had various doors. One of the ones I opened was an identical laundry like the one I had just been in. The loud machine's noises made it clear to me why no one had come into the room that I had just attacked. The people inside didn't pay me any attention, so I quietly closed the door, and began walking down the corridor. I moved past door after door until the corridor turned left. As I turned the corner I almost bumped into two guards coming my way. The scare made my teeth clattered and my hand shake. My reaction was inconvenient but out of my control, so I tried to play it off and regain my cool. Unfortunately, the guards seemed to notice my awkwardness.

"What are you doing here?" A tall blonde guy asked. He was probably 18 or 19 and had a long glowing bronze sword at his left. At his side was a short brunette who was eyeing me carefully.

"Nothing" I said with a laugh. I pretended to be confident and tried to sound innocent. "I heard a noise down here and came to check it out."

"What did you find" The brunet asked quickly while trying to stare me down.

"Nothing. The sound came from a problematic machine" I answered, trying to seem disappointed. The girl and boy studied me for awhile.

"Get out of here" the girl told me, and I unquestioningly left. Relieved, I kept walking down corridor until I found some the stairs.

I jumped up the stairs, three steps at a time, until I came up to the first floor. Unlike the basement the first floor had natural light and also had a lot more people. Nurses scurried around, some with carts, others with clipboards. There were even a few guards posted at the corners, but, in general, no one was paying me any attention. In the room there were some potted plants on the cream colored floor, and some others that hung off the lighter cream colored walls. Pressed for time I rounded the corner of the room into a lobby. The hospital seemed pretty big, considering the size of the lobby, but aside from nurses and guards I didn't see anyone else.

The lobby had around thirty people scurrying from one side to the other and though I hadn't really seen people I really didn't care. The only thing at that moment that I cared about was the large see-through rotating door. My heart beat as I approached it and without anyone taking significant notice I was able to slip out of the hospital and onto a field. Me being from New York I'm pretty used to seeing concrete everywhere, so when I realized that the hospital was surrounded by green grass in all directions I was subtlety surprised.

Now that I was outside I could fully see the hospital, and just like I presumed it was considerably large. It was 5 stories high and stretched out to each of my sides. As I studied the building someone walked passed me. I didn't see who that person was but it made me realize that there were quite a lot of people outside as well. I was in shock but didn't let that affect my thought process. I realized that my time was running out, and even though the hard part was over I was still in the race.

I started backing away from the hospital, nervous and scared. Looking for some sort of reassurance I took the sunglasses out of my pocket and put them on, trying to hide my face, before turning away from the building and into a girl. The sunglasses I had just put on flew off my face and onto the floor. The girl squeaked as I bumped into her and dropped a handful of books. Damn klutz, I mentally swore at her even though technically it was my fault. The girl had blonde hair, which was curled like a princess, and was wearing full body armor. She was gorgeous, pretty tall, and was wearing some cool owl earrings. The only thing about her that totally set me off was the long knife she was griping tightly.

"Watch it!" She complained as the books hit the floor. She looked at them and then at me obviously annoyed. I quickly looked down trying to hide my face with my baseball cap.

"Sorry" I mumbled as we both bent down. While she reached for her books, I immediately reached for the pair of sunglasses I had stolen, not really bothering to help her out.

"Just be careful next time." She scolded, in a somehow familiar voice, while picking up the last of the book. I noticed that she had not fully looked at me yet, but wasn't about to take any chance.

I stood up abruptly and put on the sunglasses. I adjusted my cap and started walking away leaving her crouched and picking up the book I had made her drop.

"Hey, at least help me out!" She demanded, but with so much fear welled up in my chest there was no way she could convince me turn around and help. The only thing I was going to do, was get the hell out of their.

I didn't reply to the girl and continued walking away. Though, as it turned out I was only able to get a few yards away from her before I felt a hand on my shoulder. The grip was firm and wasn't lightning up. Damn, I mentally cursed my luck.

"Didn't you hear her?" A male voice asked me. I looked over my shoulder and saw a boy who looked about 15 to 16 and was about my height. He had brown hair and was wearing full body armor like the girl.

"I'm in a hurry" I managed to hiss. At that moment everything around me was collapsing; basically my deepest fears were becoming a reality. I don't know how I did it but I somehow managed to seize defeat from the massive jaw of victory.

"It's okay Malcolm" The girl assured, but the Malcolm guy didn't back off. Instead he aggressively pulled me back, almost making me lose balance.

"What's your name, division, and rank?" He asked. I shifted uncomfortably on each foot stalling for time.

"I'm-I'm, uh, Percy-" I started stuttering but was rudely interrupted when out of the blue, the Malcolm guy swung at me. Since I didn't expect it, I didn't move away. At first I thought the guy was going to hit me, but his hand went up right past my face and sent my hat flying away.

"Take off those dumbass glasses!" He ordered/shouted and reached for my face with his other hand. This time I was ready and slapped his had away from me. The Malcolm guy stepped towards me but was held back by the blonde girl.

"Cut it out you two." She pacified, while looking at Malcolm "Malcolm it doesn't matter, he didn't mean anything by it, right?- oh my god, you're-!"

I knew that she had recognized me right away. I had finally made the connection, between this chick's voice and the voice I had heard earlier in my room and unfortunately knew what it meant. I was toast. Her shocked expression was amusing but I didn't stay behind to admire it. I turned and began to sprint, though I didn't exactly know where I was going, but it didn't matter. I had to get away.

Six seconds into my sprint and all hell broke loose. The hospital apparently had some sort of alarm, because blaring sires sounded from the building. For me that was probably the worst thing that could have happened. It was bad because the sirens turned a lot of head, and when a building alarm is going off and right next to that building there's a man running in the opposite direction at full speed, well it kind of looks suspicious. I kept running scared out of mind and disoriented.

Only while running away at full speed I realized how frail my body actually was. I couldn't fight anymore and my stamina was drained. Bad luck had smiled at me once again, and before I knew it someone gave me a rib cracking tackle. I was down for the count and just before I passed out I made out an assembling crowd.

**Hey, this chapter is longer than usual but I hope you enjoy.**


	13. A Hollow Emptyness

Pass out. Wake up. Pass out. Wake up. On and off. Again and again, and yet again. Never really there, but never completely out of it either. I really don't know how much longer I can deal with this. My body suddenly decided to turn completely dysfunctional after my failed jailbreak, leaving me at the mercy of my numerous unnamed armed captors. And this time I really was a captive, shackled in heavy steel chains and locked in a barred cell somewhere underground where the sun's light did not reach and where the weak torchlight down the hall left long pitch-black shadows across the cold stone floor.

It was night. I knew this somehow even though day and night down here were surely the same. My cell was as cold as the chains around my wrists and as bleak a room as I had ever known. Uncomfortable for sure, but the dominant sentiment was damnation.

Tears rolled down my cheeks. I was trapped; with no way out and not even a sliver of hope. The fact that I had nothing left, nothing to lose in death, should have been somewhat comforting, but in the end, it only reminded me of my powerlessness. My utter inability to change my circumstances. Not only in this moment, but also in the factory with my mother and, through a more general perspective, also in my pitiful life as a whole.

My eyes dried up. Some time passed. My anxiety grew due to an overbearing silence and uneventfulness. Then more time passed and my anxiety gave way to exhaustion. I began to watch the flicker of the torchlight across the walls and floor of the cell. I was soon enchanted with the perpetual haunting dance of the shadows and torch light. The mesmerizing flashes of an orange-white across the void black lead me deep into a therapeutic trance that helped distance my haunting fears from my thoughts, until my mind was as void as the pitch-black of the shadows in the corner of my cell.

A key turned in the lock of the door down the hall and all those fears came rushing back.

This is it, right? Fuck. Whose going to remember me? Am I just going to fade into oblivion? What was all that struggling and enduring with my mom for? Why the fuck-? Why? Why? Dammit.

Footsteps, made deafening loud by the silence, were coming down the hall.

Shit! Goddammit, this is fucked up! I can't believe this. Wait… breath, calm down. Breathe in, breath out. Compose yourself.

I forced my shaking hands still, lifted my face to the door of my cell and waited for the approaching footsteps, which I soon realized only belonged to one person. Whoever it was who came alone in the middle of the night was closer now, almost here. The noise was faint yet explosively loud at the same time. Who was it? What did they want? What should I do? What should I say?

Before I could come up with an answer, a figure came before my cell door, momentarily only a silhouette, shrouded in the light of the torch down the hall. I pulled on my chains, only to find that I was still shackled to the wall and floor. It was a girl, I now saw, and she stood motionless on the other side of the bars looking at me, silent.

I stared back, observing. It wasn't just anyone, it was **that** girl. The voice, the one from the hospital room. The one I ran into. The one who recognized me. The reason I was here. Half her face was covered in shadows and it was too dark to see her eyes but I knew it was her. Blond hair, fair skin, yes without a doubt. Yet she was different; she was colder, ominous even.

"Well, get on with it" I finally said, breaking a long silence.

"What?" she asked hesitantly.

"What's the wait? Break out the thumb screws, whips, burning irons, or whatever, but don't just stand there." I pressed

This took her aback.

"It's not- I'm not-" She fumbled for words, "You've got it all wrong. I'm not your torturer."

She stepped up to the bars of my cell door, becoming clearer in the dim light. Instinctively, I pressed myself further up against the wall. Not about to fall for the illusionary uncertainty of her intentions and her deceptive harmless appearance, I answered with a cold stare. The fear that had overwhelmed me only moments ago was now fully suppressed.

She paused, looked into my eyes and then looked away uncertain. She seemed uncomfortable, as if a thought she couldn't shake or a question she couldn't answer was leaving her in agony.

"Who are you?" She asked intently.

Somehow, the question was overwhelming. Me? Who was I? Sure, my mother called me Percy, but just who is that. What have I done? Where have I been? What makes me who I am? The sad truth is that I just don't know. Even if I did, should I tell this stranger? It would probably be of no consequence, considering my situation, but why concede. Why not keep my name for myself, and make my silence a little victory.

She looked over her shoulder, down the hall, nervously.

"Please… who are you?" she asked again.

"Why?" I croaked, "Why should I tell you?"

She paused and thought about that for a minute.

"I- I don't know" she finally admitted, saddened somehow.

I don't know why, but her distress got to me. Her restless gray eyes leaked sadness and confusion. But why, I could not figure out. I was becoming less sure of myself now, as if her confusion had spread to me.

"Perseus" I conceded, giving up a victory in silence.

She looked up, more determined now.

"But who **are** you?" she pressed, not satisfied with my answer.

I didn't know what else to tell her so I just told her again,

"Perseus. My name is Perseus"

Our eyes locked. Her gaze questioning, mine resilient and defensive. She realized that that was all I was going to give so she tried something else.

"Then why? Why, Perseus, were you there at the beach, all burnt up, in a mess… Why was that building by the cliff in flames? Just what was going on?" She asked, desperately.

I didn't want to remember but the memories came flooding back to him all at once, stirring emotions that were best left untouched. I remembered the sound of breaking windows, my mom doubling over in pain, my fear as I turned the corners of the dark factory room, then the girl's golden blood, and that smell as well, the smell of gas, and the man who turned to bull then back to man again, and the – the flames. Those ghastly flames that consumed everything, and everyone.

Tears ran down my face before I could help myself. My chest throbbed and my throat clenched tight so I resigned the whirl of emotions within and began to cry, shamelessly and uncontrollably.

For the longest time the girl stood there not sure what to do and I cried, and cried some more, until I was empty. A shell, a hollow being. Each falling tear took with it a piece of me, each tear leaving less and less. Then finally, I decided, this was the last time. This was my last moment of weakness. Whatever torture or pain which was to come I would meet with dry eyes. Yes, that would be my way. There was nothing left for me in life, which I still cherished, nothing and no one. Only pain, hardship and loneliness. Soon, though. Soon it would be over.

My sadness was replaced by emotions still more overwhelming. Powerful emotions. Red emotions.

"You attacked us." I accused.

She only stared.

"You killed us." I said, in a low voice dripping with hate.

Her cold grey eyes met mine. In the silence, I made a promise of a destructive vengeance and channeled it through my gaze. She look away, then backed away and disappeared back the way she came.


End file.
